Jhondie & Justin 6 Justin A Carter
by Cat Carroll
Summary: After an unexpected visitor for Jhondie shows up, Justin must go to Seattle to deal with a death in the family. When he discovers that a natural death wasn't natural at all, he is the next one marked for elimination.
1. Unexpected Visitor

1 Jhondie & Justin (6) – Justin A. Carter  
  
Rated: PG-13  
  
Disclaimer: My betta fish is happy where it is. Nobody can have him. Therefore everything that James Cameron made up belongs to him. Everything else belongs to me. Except Seattle. I didn't create it and neither did he. I think Starbucks owns it at the moment.  
  
A/N: This is the sixth installment of the J & J series. To answer a question I have gotten several times, there will be about twelve of these stories all together. I think if DA doesn't get a third season, I will still have to finish the series no matter what. In any case, enjoy. This one is going to be much less shippery than the last couple has been, and getting back to some serious action. Please read and review, because I am a slightly pitiful person that lives for the moment she comes home and opens her e-mail and waits for the reviews to come in. sniffs dramatically Well, maybe not that bad, but I just like getting feedback from the lot of you. I'll stop babbling now. I have a lot more writing to be doing that in.  
  
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2 Justin  
  
"Took Kayla to get some things for school," Jhondie read aloud from her mother's note. "We're meeting Anna and Melissa for lunch after if you would like to join us - Mom." She looked up at me with a sparkle in her eyes. "So, you want to go meet them?" she asked teasingly. I didn't have to reply. I just swept her up into my arms and kissed her. From the way her arms wrapped around me, I figured I came up with the right answer.  
  
It wasn't that I didn't want to see her family or anything, but I had been gone for three weeks, and I had missed Jhondie more than I thought possible. There had been a special workshop that had been offered, and I had been invited to attend. It was supposed to be some big honor since only a total of thirty students from four different colleges were invited to attend. Yeah, big honor to attend a workshop in Sacramento that was government run and entitled "Responsible Journalism".  
  
The whole thing was for the government to get us to believe that censorship was just fine. We were supposed to be pleased that they were protecting the masses from irresponsible story telling like what had incited rioting after the Pulse. We should support censorship. The government needed to tell us what to say. Why make people unhappy anyways? They gave us examples of wild journalists that wrote stories without proof that incited mass hysteria. It didn't matter if the articles were true or not. After the second day I wanted to ask about Eye's Only and remind them that he wasn't censored, but his stories were always true. Would they block him?  
  
I had really gone there to network though, and getting kicked out would not have been the best move. I wanted to know if there really were others out there getting ready to go into my profession that felt the same way that I did. Most of the people there were government drones, but I did meet two people that had a great deal of promise. Nikki wanted to cut out the corruption that plagued this country and Dwight wanted to revive that forgotten document, The Constitution of the United States of America. I wasn't about to tell either of them who I worked for, but almost immediately we knew that we had a common bond.  
  
Overall, the three weeks went rather well. I got to meet the enemy head on which might help in the future, and Nikki, Dwight and I got to know each other pretty well. The first night of the workshop there had been a dinner, and the three of us gravitated to each other. I think we could see that distinct lack of dullness in each other and knew that we were all determined to truly be responsible journalists, and not the way the government defined it.  
  
Nikki was disappointed that I had a girlfriend to say the least. She hit on me lightly the first night, and then was a little more forthright when I didn't respond to her subtle flirtations. I told her that Jhondie and I were very serious, and that even though she wasn't there, I had no intentions of doing anything that would hurt her if she knew. Nikki was impressed with my integrity and commitment to Jhondie, and relaxed after that. There was a waiter at this diner the three of us went to almost every night that she started flirting with instead.  
  
The three of us had promised to keep in touch when the workshop ended. Nikki was going back to San Diego, and Dwight was off to San Francisco. I had a feeling that in time the two of them would be able to help expand the Informant Net. We all had laughed so much at the seminars when we were eating together at night and comparing notes. It was almost scary to see how much the drones just sucked up all the crap that was being spewed at us.  
  
I had been busy as hell, but I still missed Jhondie every day. Her summer classes ended during the second week of the workshop, and I thought about inviting her until the day it started and I saw some military types hanging around. There was no way she would be able to enjoy herself if she saw any of them. It was tough, but I managed to talk myself out of asking her to come. She would have, but she would have been tense the whole time she was there. Not exactly vacation material.  
  
She was with Dad and the twins when they picked me up from the train station. It was a little like an old fashioned movie with me hugging my girl on a platform, but it was cool anyways. We had to go back to my house so I could deposit my stuff and I could get out of my suit. I promised Dad we would be there in time to us all to go out to dinner together, and then we went over to Jhondie's. She had gotten some information that Eye's Only had asked for, and the disks were at her place. I had a special program on my computer that would let me send it to him, so the plan was to go back to my place, do the upload, and have dinner. It was funny that Dad was starting to include Jhondie in family gatherings. He had actually been doing that ever since we got back from Boston.  
  
But when we got to her place, her mother and sister were going to be gone for a couple of hours and I had just spent the last three weeks without my lover. I had missed her so much. Nikki was very attractive, and a year and a half ago I would have enjoyed the diversion, but Jhondie had pretty much ruined me for any other woman. She was the one I thought about every day while I was gone, and the boss was just going to have to wait.  
  
Jhondie already had my shirt off before we started moving from the entryway of her house. It would seem that she had missed me just as much as I had missed her. I wasn't sure how we managed it, but we never broke that kiss that was becoming scorching in intensity and almost frantic with desire. I managed to get her shirt off of her as she started moving backwards to the couch. By that time, both of us knew there was no way we were going to make it upstairs.  
  
I unsnapped her jeans, trying to get them down, but she was a hell of a lot quicker than me, and just as determined to get my jeans off of me, undoing my belt and unzipping them. I gave her a little push as the back of her legs hit the arm of the couch and she tumbled backwards, her jeans pinning her legs together.  
  
She let out a little surprised scream as she fell, but I ignored it, practically pouncing her where she had landed on the couch. I had more important things to deal with like how I was going to get her jeans the rest of the way off of her and kissing that little mole on her shoulder. God, she tasted so sweet. Her hands were all over me, and we were so caught up in each other, that I didn't even hear the creak that the third stair from the top had started to make when someone stepped on it. It actually started to make that noise mysteriously right after last Thanksgiving. It was a mystery to say the least. Thinking about it later, there might not have been a creak at all.  
  
I was working on the bra issue when a hand grabbed my shoulder, and before I could even think about reacting, I was pitched halfway across the room, skidding across the hardwood floor into the wall. A blonde man was standing behind the couch in an attack stance exactly like what I had seen Jhondie do before when she was ready to do some serious a$$ kicking. His expression was a rather interesting combination of pissed and confused. I suspected that I had a rather similar one.  
  
Jhondie was on her knees on the couch, eyes wide, gaping at him. "Zack?" she gasped.  
  
3 Jhondie  
  
Of all the times for my darling brother to show up, now was not exactly the best timing. "Zack?" I squeaked out, not at all feeling like a dangerous soldier. I felt like a teenager that had just gotten busted with her boyfriend. Justin didn't look hurt, but he did look like he was about to jump up and go after whomever it was that had intruded on us.  
  
"It's okay Justin," I said quickly, jumping to my feet. "This is just my overprotective big brother Zack." Justin's eyebrows shot up. I had mentioned a few of my sibs to him, but not very often. It hurt to think about them scattered about, and I didn't like to talk about it. I knew Justin was curious, but he knew why he shouldn't push the issue on me. Now instead of talking about him, here was Zack in the flesh. Oh God. There was a reason I didn't want Zack to meet Justin.  
  
Zack glared at me when I made that introduction, his blue eyes snapping fire. "He already knows about us," I said, knowing the dressing down I was going to get. Well, dammit, he was going to have to live with it. We had talked about this a million times before. He didn't like it, but he had to know it was going to happen sooner or later. We were all growing up, and serious relationships happened when kids became adults.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing breaching op-sec?" he snarled, his hands bunching into fists. There was one thing that would instantly light Zack's fuse, and that was telling someone about our misbegotten childhood. But I was sick of the whole op-sec song and dance. Despite what he liked to think, I was not reckless.  
  
"What the hell does it look like I was doing?" I snapped back. I didn't mean it the way it sounded, but he flushed, and that was when we both realized that I was still half naked. It was one of the very rare times that I had ever seen Zack flustered. We had showered together in the barracks, but we weren't kids anymore, and as much as he was my brother, I still had a nice body.  
  
"Cover yourself up soldier," he muttered, looking away from me.  
  
"Quit enjoying the view," I replied with saccharine sweetness, trying to get my jeans back up and look for my shirt. Zack reddened a little more. I had a feeling he wasn't terribly experienced with the opposite sex, and this was far more embarrassing to him then it was to me.  
  
Justin was finally getting to his feet and tossed my shirt over to me. I quickly pulled it over my head, and Zack was able to look at me again. Maybe I should take it back off. He was pissed. The last time I had seen him this pissed was…I think he might have been this angry when I was twelve and he was interrupted taking me from Las Vegas. Actually, no he wasn't. Justin came up behind me trying to discreetly zip his pants, and I made sure my body was between him and Zack. This could get very ugly very quickly. There was only one way I could remember to contain a problem with op-sec. Eliminate the breach. 


	2. Sentimentality

Justin  
  
  
  
So this is what it looked like when two transgenic human beings decided to let off a little steam. And slightly terrified is how a mere mortal feels when he is the object of the argument. The way Zack was glaring at me let me know exactly how he would prefer to handle the problem. I personally would prefer another solution, one that didn't involve an unmarked grave and me.  
  
"Zack, are you telling me that this is the first time that one of us has told our significant other about Manticore?" Jhondie asked him, trying to defuse the situation. No wonder she didn't talk about her siblings much. If they were like this guy, I wouldn't want to try and describe them to others either. He glanced at me again as if he didn't want to have this argument in front of me, but I wasn't about to leave. Quite simply, he was going to have to get used to me in Jhondie's life.  
  
"You're letting your guard down," he practically growled at her. "You know damn well what happens when you get sentimental."  
  
"Yeah, yeah," she said, sounding bored. "I've heard the speech before, remember? I think I even saw the song and dance version of it. You've said before you trusted my instincts, remember?"  
  
His eyes riveted onto her. "I hope getting screwed on a couch is worth Lydecker finding you. Every person that knows is one more risk to all of us. I will not let your leg-spreader endanger a single one of the others, do you understand that?"  
  
"Okay, time out," I interjected. Both of them froze for a moment. I have no idea where I got the courage up to get in the middle of this, but even without her changing expression, I knew that last line had hurt her. He was her brother and all, but she was mine, and I'll be dammed if someone was going to come in here and make remarks about us, and my trustworthiness. "If I wanted to turn her over to Manticore, you better believe I could have done it. And made sure I lived too. Hell, I probably could have gotten her to get you and had the both of you turned over to Lydecker. So don't give her any crap about me knowing."  
  
There was dead silence. It was safe to say that I had both of their attentions rather well captivated. "And you're not going to piss me off and make me walk out on Jhondie with your sophomoric comments either," I informed him. "You know, I have a little sister, and I wouldn't say something like that to her. I'm going to hope that it was just a heat of the moment kind of thing, and let it go."  
  
Zack's eyes narrowed. I knew the look. Jhondie tended to have it right before she pounced on a bad guy when we were working. Jhondie saw it too, and totally stepped between her brother and me. I know, it wasn't the smartest move challenging a genetically engineered soldier, but damn it, he had insulted my girlfriend's honor. Testosterone demanded as much. Still not a bright move though.  
  
"Zack," Jhondie said evenly, "There is a big difference between phony sentimentality and being with someone you know you can trust. And don't tell me I've obviously been here too long if I believe that. It's safer to be stable and seem like a regular person with a real family than a drifter. Even you agreed on that."  
  
"That was when I thought you knew the difference between stability and sentimentality." He replied in that same dangerously calm tone that she was using. "You're getting attached here, Jhondie. You know how dangerous that is. You're not going to want to go when the time comes. You can fool yourself all you want that you belong here, but if Lydecker ever gets wind, you're going to learn what it's like to be on the run for real."  
  
"You don't think I know what it's like?" she almost screamed at him, her whole body tense. I almost backed away from her. "Every time I see some soldier, I cringe. I see some guy that looks a little like Lydecker and I panic. I hear a helicopter and my heart speeds up. I have more to lose than you can possibly imagine, but I am going to have a life no matter what those b*****ds think! I have always done what was required to complete the mission, remember? Don't think for a second that much has changed. But this is my home, and I do belong here."  
  
He crossed his arms, and smirked bitterly at her answer. "No sentimentality there, huh?" I so wanted to deck the jerk. I knew he thought he was doing the right thing, but he was certainly being a self- righteous b*****d in the process. From what Jhondie had said, Zack was the protector of the group, but in truth he had no idea what it was like to really have a family to protect. She did.  
  
Before Jhondie could say anything, my pager beeped at me. I glanced at the number. Dad. He was going to have to wait, but then it beeped at me again, and there was a number with a 911 beside it. That was not something Dad used lightly. Since I got my pager, he had used a 911 code maybe twice. Jhondie was looking at me expectantly.  
  
"It's my dad," I said, feeling a little lame right then. My big speech standing up to Zack the Great and Terrible, and now I need to call back my daddy. I needed to call him, but I wasn't sure if I should leave these two alone. Not that I could really do much, but I just felt like I should be there.  
  
"It's okay," Jhondie said, reading my mind. "Got to be important for him to be calling now." Maybe she wanted a minute alone with Zack. She might be able to say anything in front of me, but I didn't think he would say much with me around. I grabbed my t-shirt from the floor as I crossed the living room into the kitchen to grab the phone.  
  
  
  
Jhondie  
  
  
  
"Decide," Zack said coldly as soon as Justin was out of the room. I knew what he meant. I either kept Justin and this life or I played his soldier game and left now. Too many people knew about me at this point, at least they did in Zack's mind. I couldn't imagine what he would say if he knew about Dr. Lee. Actually, I could. But he wouldn't be using verbal language. I'd still get the point though. Painfully.  
  
"You know," I said bitterly, "you would at least listen to Eva and treat her as an XO." That got to him. The three of us were the squad leaders. Zack was the natural CO, and Eva had been the XO. With her death, it shoved me into that spot. Zack had accepted that right off the bat, and had told me to lead the other group down the other hall to the windows. When he came to LA, it was usually to rest for a day before going off to help one of the others. He had accepted that I should be able to take care of myself.  
  
"If I hadn't listened to her, she would be alive right now," he replied.  
  
"And we would still be at Manticore. It's better to be dead than there." I didn't want Zack to be angry with me. I barely saw him as it was. I didn't want him to take off and do that watching from afar thing again. I looked down. I didn't want to give in, but I wanted him to listen to me. "She sacrificed her life so that we could live. Not hiding from the world in terror, but to have a life. She talked about it enough. You know she believed we could do it if we could just get the courage up to run."  
  
"Are you willing to throw that sacrifice away for him?" Zack asked. It was a very irritating thing Zack did to twist words. Granted, we were taught that, but it didn't make it less annoying. "Lydecker will do whatever it takes to catch us."  
  
"And I will do whatever it takes to stay away from him," I replied calmly. Our eyes met. "Zack, you know that if I needed to protect them, I would leave, don't you?" I asked quietly, not wanting Justin to overhear. "You can complain I'm getting sentimental, but the fact I care about them would make me leave if you ever told me Lydecker was coming too close. Remember Vegas? I won't be the cause of them getting hurt."  
  
I could say that to Zack because I knew something about him. He would never deliberately lead Lydecker close enough to me to spook me. Chances of Lydecker finding me were very slim. I had a birth certificate. There were no adoption records. For all practical purposes, there was proof that I was born naturally from Ashley and Jack Harris. Lydecker would be looking for waifs, foster children, adoptees. I had the best cover of all: a real identity. Zack knew that. If he could get that for all of us, we would be set, as long as we didn't do something stupid like bring in outside help to look for the others. That was the main reason I didn't tell Eye's Only about me.  
  
Before I could say anything else, Justin came out of the kitchen looking a little dazed. He glanced over at us like he didn't know we were still there. My alarms were going off in full. His dad had paged. Brittany or Bryan? Which one was hurt?  
  
"What's wrong?" I asked, ignoring Zack's grimace and going to Justin. Zack walked over to the other side of the room, studiously ignoring us.  
  
"Um," he said, sounding way off. "My uncle Justin died this morning."  
  
"Oh." I wasn't sure what to say. I knew he was close to his uncle, but I had to admit I was relieved it wasn't a twin that was hurt. I didn't want to get all sentimental in front of Zack, but screw it. Justin was part of my life, and I was going to be there for him if he needed me.  
  
"You okay?" I finally asked softly. My back was to Zack, but I could just imagine his sneer.  
  
"Yeah, but I need to go," he replied. I nodded. "I'm going to go with Dad to Seattle."  
  
Zack was going to wet himself, but I asked anyways. "You want me to go with you?"  
  
Justin wasn't looking at me. For a second he had a familiar expression, the one he had when we were hot on a story and he saw something that put elements together. But he was looking at Zack. There wasn't time to press further. "No," Justin finally said. "Seattle is still in a military state. You don't need to be there." I went to protest, but he continued quickly. "For all we know, they might check everyone's neck that comes into the city. They can get away with that there more than here." That shut me up. He was right about that.  
  
"But I may need to ask a favor," he added. "Britt and Bryan didn't really know Uncle Justin all that well, so they probably aren't going considering what a pain it is to get sector passes and city passes and all that crap. Do you think you can keep an eye on them?"  
  
I nodded. "No problem. Just let me know when I need to get them or tie them up or whatever." I knew Mom wouldn't mind under the circumstances. She was pretty much treating Justin's family like they were part of ours. We'd all had dinner together and stuff like that. Kayla wasn't too much older than Brittany and enjoyed having a younger girl look up to her. It would be okay for them to crash here for a few days. But I would be responsible for them. That was a scary thought.  
  
I glanced back at Zack. "Are you going to be here for the next two minutes?" I asked. I didn't want him to disappear when I went out to the car with Justin for a minute. Zack grunted something, and I took that to mean he would stay. I wanted to get this worked out with him. I wasn't asking for his permission, but I didn't want him to hate me or anything like that.  
  
Justin and I went out to his car, and I hugged him tightly. I had a feeling Zack was watching, but I didn't care. I hadn't seen Justin in three weeks, and now he was going to leave again. Damn it. I should be going with him, military state or no. He needed me. I could tell that from the way he held onto me. He had been there for me when I needed someone, and I should pay him back. He had lost a friend as much as an uncle.  
  
"I love you," I said in his ear.  
  
Justin pulled back and brushed some hair out of my face. "I love you sweetheart," he said, and then leaned over and kissed me softly. "We shouldn't be longer than a couple of days."  
  
"You'll know where to find me," I said. It was a tease that I had said to him before, but this time he didn't smile. His eyes darkened.  
  
"Will I?" he asked, glancing towards the house.  
  
I pulled him back down to me, kissing him again. "Zack will get over this," I whispered. "Trust me, this isn't the first time we've had this talk. And I wouldn't leave without telling you goodbye. I promise that. Besides, I always finish what I start, and we have something from earlier to finish."  
  
Justin smiled at that. "Be nice to him," he said. "Big brothers just want to make sure the younger ones are okay." He hugged me again, and then left. I took a deep breath. Now it was just Zack and I. I thought about seeing if there was still time to meet Mom and Kayla for lunch. No. I needed to face the music. It was a pain in the ass the feelings that Zack stirred up in me. I wasn't the soldier girl anymore until he walked in, and I'm spitting military lingo like I never stopped. Oh well. Funny what you do for family. 


	3. Sibling Bonding

Jhondie  
  
  
  
"You know," I said as soon as I walked back through the door, "it's a good thing he did know already since you did toss him across the room like a rag doll. If he didn't, he would have been asking a hell of a lot of questions."  
  
"What questions," Zack replied coldly. "You had another man in your house that wasn't pleased with seeing him with you. He wouldn't know you had a brother. He would have assumed other things, and left. Major security breach eliminated." He finally turned to face me. I was not amused. Zack was a lot of things, but an expert in human relations, he wasn't.  
  
"You don't know Justin," I said, heading to the stairs. "He's not the type to let anything go. And he trusts me implicitly."  
  
"You do not need someone like that in your life," Zack said flatly.  
  
I whipped around, glaring at him this time. "I don't? Then whom do I have in my life? You? Tell me Zack, what was the most important thing that has happened to me since the last time we actually talked."  
  
He sneered at me. "Let me guess. You fell in love and I bet you think you can even marry him. Raise a cute little family. You're living in a dream world soldier."  
  
I folded my arms. "Not even close, soldier. Dad died. Some gangbangers did a drive by on the hospital when he was leaving after his shift and shot him. I could have used my brother that night. But you weren't there when I needed someone. Justin was." Zack blinked.  
  
"Human beings have feelings, Zack," I continued. "It's what separates us from the animals. It's what Manticore tried to beat out of us. People need people, and that was when I first really started to need Justin. You can call it weakness. I call it humanity."  
  
"That's a loss," he replied quietly. "I didn't know." For Zack, that was a big thing to say. It was more or less, "I'm so sorry to hear that. Please accept my condolences for your loss." Zack respected Dad. He had ever since he was really sick and Dad took care of him. Zack had stopped in a year after we moved to LA, and I knew he was having problems with seizures. Zack didn't get them as often as I did, but they were much stronger when they hit him. He had left really fast, and I followed him. That was how sick he was to not even notice that he had a tail. He wasn't staying too far away, and I went back home to get some Tryptophan and other stuff, and Dad caught me heading out the window. He was pissed until I admitted what was wrong, and he drove me over there right away.  
  
Zack was mostly unconscious on the ground when we got to the abandoned house he was holed up in. He sent me home and stayed with Zack almost all day. Zack tried to leave, but Dad made him stay and pointed out that he wasn't in any condition to be hitting the road if a norm could keep him from getting out of bed. He told Zack that he appreciated the way he looked out for me, but if he didn't take care of himself, he wouldn't be able to take care of the others too. It was a good reminder for a thirteen year old boy who was moving a lot trying to keep us all in line. I think he respected Dad for not being scared of him, and just making sure he was okay.  
  
"Yeah, it is a loss," I said in the same quiet tone. "Maybe you can run around and not need anyone else, but I'm different. The people you surround yourself with know about Manticore because they survived it with you. I don't have that luxury." I turned and went upstairs.  
  
Zack followed me up. There were a few unstated rules that we had about him being at my house. I didn't want Kayla to know anything, and for once, I didn't have to argue with him over something. He thought it was proper to keep the information classified. I just didn't want to freak out my little sister. Anyways, whenever he came over, we would go up to my room to talk. Usually we would crawl out of my window and sit on the roof of the back porch. Talking was pretty one-sided. Zack wasn't exactly the greatest conversationalist. But he would hang out with me until Kayla came back, and then we would take off together for a while. Mom and Dad never really got used to Zack showing up, but I was always glad to see him. His timing needed a little work though.  
  
We sat down in the usual spot and immediately a streak of white flew at Zack. He caught Cody easily, the dumb cat purring loudly at being petted by Zack. I think it might be possible that Cody missed seeing Zack more that I did. Something that might have been the start of a smile edged Zack's lips as he scratched behind Cody's ears. The cat was practically grinning as he stretched out over Zack's legs, making himself quite comfortable. Zack should smile more. He was actually really good looking when he did. It was rare to get a smile from him, but worth the view.  
  
Neither of us said anything for a while. I didn't know what else to say, and I think Zack was absorbing what I had said. He could say that none of us needed anyone. He kept us at a slight distance, but he knew he could walk up to any of us, and I bet we were all glad to see him. None of us had that in our lives. We needed something else to fill the void. I knew that tactically, getting close to another person was a big mistake, but I was human. I get lonely. And not that he would admit to it, but he did too.  
  
"Explain yourself," he said firmly. I wanted to roll my eyes and make a rude comment, but I was talking before I was thinking. At least I was able to keep it together enough to edit out some very important details of why and how Justin and I met. The last thing I was ever going to tell Zack was about working for Eye's Only. Not to mention, if I used the word "blackmail", Justin was going to die. No figurative speaking about it. Zack would kill him.  
  
"So, he did some research, and there's stuff about Manticore on conspiracy sites and stuff like that. He's rather intelligent. Before he could go to anyone about it and have the information fall into wrong hands, I let him know exactly what was at stake," I explained. "He said I should go public, but when I told him the situation, he knew that was the worst thing that could happen. We were friends for a while, and then we started dating. And you can figure out the rest."  
  
Zack's jaw was rigid, his whole face stony as I explained the situation. I didn't use words that would disgust him like "love" and "destiny" and "happy", but he knew I felt that way with Justin in my life. He wasn't talking to me either and lecturing me. That was not a good sign. He wasn't saying much of anything, which was pretty typical of him, but I still would prefer him to yell than be quiet. Quiet was thinking. Zack didn't have happy thoughts when he thought there was a breach in our security.  
  
I started thinking about the events of the last hour, and couldn't hold back a laugh. Zack just looked at me when I started giggling. He had a whole retinue of glares, and the one he was giving me was more of an amused, "get back into it soldier" glare. "Sorry," I said, still snickering, "but I just thought of Justin's face when he hit the floor." I was hoping he would laugh or something, but he just sat there, waiting for me to calm down and get serious again.  
  
"Come on," I prodded. "Even you have to admit that it was funny as hell. And don't say a word about there being nothing funny with a security breach."  
  
"That was not amusing," he finally said, his glare hardening. That calmed me down. I thought about what had really happened. Zack had totally ignored proper procedures and protocol there. That was not Zack.  
  
"What got into you?" I asked. "Granted, you've never caught me in a delicate situation, but damn Zack, don't you think you overreacted just a bit?" He studiously petted Cody for a moment, and I didn't know if he was going to answer or not. It was impossible to try and force an answer from him. Either he would or he wouldn't.  
  
"You screamed."  
  
I blinked, replaying the scene in my mind, and trying to not think of the fact it had been three weeks, and what Justin had been doing was really, really missed. I was really gotten used to sex on a regular basis, and to go without…this was not what I was supposed to be thinking about. I screamed? When did I…oh…yeah, I did scream.  
  
"And you heard it and just ran down there without thinking twice." It was a statement, not a question.  
  
"I haven't heard you scream since…since." He didn't have to say anymore. I knew when the last time he had heard me scream was. I shivered, remembering all too well the feel of the napalm hitting my skin, and the smell of burning flesh. I loved Justin and trusted him, but there were some things I didn't know if I could bring myself to tell him. I didn't have to tell Zack and he didn't always have to finish a sentence. We just understood. That was the bond that my parents couldn't figure out.  
  
"Thank you," I said. "You know, you're not a half bad big brother."  
  
"You're my responsibility," he replied, shrugging it off. Zack didn't take praise very well.  
  
"I hope I'm more than just a pain in your ass," I said dryly. He just shrugged again. For a second I couldn't believe he could be so callous, but then I caught the tiny edge of a smile on his lips. Teasing me? Zack? I thought I was going to have to lie down for a moment. I punched him lightly on the shoulder. He probably would have stopped me, but Cody would have used claws to maintain his perch. Cats always have the sharpest little pointy claws for some reason. Maybe that explained a lot about me.  
  
"You know I miss you when you're gone," I said lightly. My mood sobered. "I miss all of you. All of us." Zack's mouth tightened again, and I knew I shouldn't go into forbidden territory, but for once I needed to ask. I hadn't before, but I needed to know if I was the exception or the rule on a certain point.  
  
"I'm not asking where they are or what they're doing," I said quickly. "Just tell me that they're happy." Tears burned in my eyes. "Tell me they don't regret it." I couldn't keep eye contact under his harsh stare. "I think about us all the time. I have this great life, and I still get lonely for them. Just tell me they're okay."  
  
It was quiet for a long moment. I really wasn't expecting him to say anything. I wanted him to, but more than likely, he was going to be gone when I looked over beside me again. I wasn't expecting the hand that almost shyly rested on my shoulder. I looked up, a little shocked. Zack was not touchy-feely. I could probably count on one hand the non-violent times that we'd had physical contact.  
  
"None of them have ever regretted leaving," he said softly. "They are okay out there. Just believe in that."  
  
Before he could stop me, I leaned over and hugged him. He froze for a minute, but then hesitantly returned it. "They miss you too," he added, and I almost started bawling right then and there. I didn't want to let go of him. I wanted to tell him that I loved him, but he was uncomfortable with a hug. I let him go, unable to help the tear that slid down my cheek. The rest stayed put for now at least.  
  
Zack gave me a slight smile. "I never understood how the most vicious one in the group could be the biggest softie with her siblings." With incredible delicacy that I wouldn't have thought he possessed, he wiped that single tear away.  
  
I had to smile at that. So I was a little crueler than the others when provoked. It was the feline DNA thing. I played with my food too. It was, in an odd way, why I was a squad leader at Manticore. I would be more careful and calculating just so I could make a cold pounce and then show the target absolutely no mercy. The word "vicious" was used because of the times I did things that were worse than just killing. I was just flat out mean. It was also why I wasn't the second in command. Eva was more tempered than I was.  
  
There was so much more to say, but we both heard the car pull up in the driveway. "You going to be in LA for a while?" I asked quickly.  
  
"No," he answered, displacing Cody and getting up. "Got places to go. I was just passing through." Cody meowed at him pitifully, and Zack took a second to pet him one more time. I couldn't help but feel disappointed he was going so soon and wondered how long it would be before I got to see him again.  
  
"Say hi to them for me," I said, with a little smile.  
  
He went to glare at me, but caught on that I was teasing. He shook his head in mock disgust. "See you later." He paused for a second unexpectedly, looking at me with the oddest gaze. "Zane still has that weird sense of humor that used to get us in trouble all the time," he said suddenly. "Tinga let her hair grow out. She hasn't cut it since we escaped, and it's really long now. They're all okay, baby sister." He didn't wait for a reply. He jumped down and slid out of the yard.  
  
In a minute he would be down the road, and off to parts unknown once more. I sighed. It was always hard when he left. He was my one lifeline to the past. My link to the others. I missed him. And I knew he knew exactly how much it meant to me to hear what he had said. Tinga had said more than once that she wanted long beautiful hair after we had seen a woman with her hair down. And Zane. Well, as long as he was still Zane, then I could be happy.  
  
There was something that was bothering me though. He had dropped the subject of Justin. This was not a good thing. Zack didn't let go of an issue. We weren't trained to. He was plotting. I was going to have to stay extra close to Justin for a while when he got back to LA. I didn't want to think of Zack like that, but I knew better.  
  
I wiped my eyes again, and climbed back into my room. I checked my reflection. It wasn't too bad. Mom might not be able to tell I had been upset. Who was I kidding? Mom had this eagle vision thing that made me wonder about her DNA. I sighed. I wasn't going to be able to hang up here for a while. I needed to check with her about Britt and Bryan.  
  
I made it to the bottom of the stairs when her and Kayla came out of the kitchen. Kayla was pouting, and from the conversation I heard while they were coming in, Kay was mad that mom vetoed her getting a shirt or something like that. Kay said it was stylish and everyone was wearing them. Mom said that was true only if "everyone" was a hooker. Yep. Teen years had started with a bang around our place.  
  
"What's wrong?" Mom asked the minute she saw me. She glanced behind me. "Where's Justin?" Of course she would realize that we should be attached at the hip right now.  
  
"Justin's dad called," I explained. "His uncle died, and he had to go home."  
  
"Oh," Mom said, looking sympathetic. "That's a shame. Do they need anything?"  
  
"Umm, well, actually I told Justin I would keep an eye on the twins while him and his Dad went to Seattle if you don't mind." I didn't think she would, but Mom liked being asked first before being committed to something.  
  
She smiled. "That's fine with me if they want to stay over here." She glanced at Kayla. "Can you get the rest of the groceries from the car?" Kayla rolled her eyes and let out a sigh to inform us all of how she abused and unappreciated she was as she turned to go back outside.  
  
"Are what else?" Mom asked quietly as soon as Kayla was outside. I didn't bother with a lie.  
  
"We had a visitor earlier," I replied quietly. Mom looked confused for a second, and then it hit her what I was saying.  
  
"And Justin was with you?"  
  
"Oh yeah."  
  
Mom winced. "Is Justin really in Seattle or in traction?"  
  
"He really had to go to Seattle," I replied with a laugh. She had no clue how close to death Justin had come.  
  
"Is he still here?" Mom glanced upstairs as if checking if she could see Zack.  
  
I shook my head. "He had to run. Soldier-boy business as usual."  
  
She seemed relieved. There was always going to be the fear that Zack would whisk me away at some point. I couldn't blame her. Zack was there to watch out for us, and after all this time, if he said I had to go, then that could only mean one thing: Lydecker knew. If he knew, then there was only one option. But I wouldn't tell anyone that. It upset them to think of blind devotion to Zack, but it wasn't like that. Blind devotion would have had me moving around constantly since I was twelve. I would stand up to Zack on the little stuff. But when it came to the big things, I would have to trust in him. I had a feeling that he had more trust in me than in the others. No concrete reason to think it, but I did. Good instincts I guess.  
  
"Well," Mom said, "are you going to be picking up Brittany and Brian today?"  
  
"I have to call Justin in a few," I answered. "Thanks."  
  
She smiled. "The things we do for family, right?"  
  
I grinned. It was the first time she had ever referred to Justin's family like that. "It could be worse," I said, hearing Kayla come back through the door. "I could be bringing in two more teenagers."  
  
She laughed. "In that case, I would be heading to where the sand is warm and the cabana boys always have oil, and taking all the alcohol in the house with me."  
  
That was her favorite threat, and it always got a laugh out of me. I headed into the kitchen to call Justin and see what needed to be done. His family. My family. When exactly had it become "our"? Didn't want to question anymore. I just liked it that way. 


	4. The Will

Justin  
  
  
  
The last funeral I attended was for Jhondie's dad. Most of what I felt then was sympathy for Jhondie and her family. I didn't know Dr. Harris all that well, so it was hard for me to be personally upset. I felt bad for Jhondie. I knew what she was going through, and wanting to comfort her, but not knowing how was the hardest part. The last funeral I attended that I was really upset over was actually my mother's funeral.  
  
I was glad that the twins didn't come. It was a real pain trying to get into the city and maneuver around. Despite having paperwork filed in advance, we still had to wait in long lines to get sector passes and to be allowed to leave the airport. I had to endure everything but a full body- cavity search it felt like. It was annoying to say the least, and the last thing you wanted to do was mouth off to sector police. No wonder the boss was so busy. He had a lot of garbage to get rid of in this city alone.  
  
Jhondie had kindly collected the little brats on her own the morning after we found out and we had a late morning flight to Seattle. I asked her how things went with Zack, but she didn't say much. Just said that everything was okay, and I didn't have to worry. Sure. No problems. Maybe I shouldn't stress over Zack. If I caught Britt on the couch with her boyfriend, I would be pissed too, even if she were an adult by then. Jhon probably calmed him down and that was that. There was something though that wasn't adding up. I wasn't sure what it was, but it had something to do with Jhondie offering to go to Seattle. Zack didn't change expression when she said that, but there was something that said he didn't like the idea. It was odd, but I didn't have the time to pick at it until it clicked in my mind like I usually did with a problem.  
  
Uncle Justin's funeral wasn't nearly as bad as my mother's, but it was the first time since then that I was actually upset over a death in my family. Anyone else that had died, I really didn't know all that well. I hadn't seen Uncle Justin in a while, but we had kept in touch with letters and phone calls. He was a scientist of all things. He has always been inordinately proud of me, and just knew that I was destined to do great things. He would laugh and say that us Justin A. Carter's were meant to change the world. I would remind him that my middle name was different, despite having the same first initial, and he would dismiss it as a minor detail. He'd wink and make a cryptic comment about others dismissing it too. And now he was gone. Dead of a heart attack at age forty-nine.  
  
He had done a lot for the world. I was thinking about that looking around at the guests. He had been a scientist. He had patented this machine that could cleanse the blood of harmful contaminants including quite a few viruses and bacteria. I have no idea how it works, but it does. After that MedGen had hired him to work for them. Actually, it was more of a partnership. He got to use their equipment, and they got future patents. They also allowed him to develop further on his cleansing system, but they couldn't get the patents for that, since it was already covered under the existing invention. I didn't know all of the legal details, but Uncle Justin was very pleased about it. Said something about royalties and the like. Whatever. But some top execs from MedGen were at the service, along with most of the R & D staff. Scientists and researchers from all over had come to pay their last respects. I thought about my high school football team. They would die to see this nerd collection. They would explode when they realized that this nerd collection they wanted to beat up were more powerful then they would ever be.  
  
Uncle Justin's lawyer said that he needed to read the will right away the evening of the funeral. Dad was a little pissed that the lawyer, Steiner, was pushing money ahead of some proper grieving time, but Steiner insisted that he do it. He said that there were several important considerations that could not wait, and they included Dad and me. I had no idea where I came into play with this. Maybe he had something that he wanted to make sure I got, but what was so important it couldn't wait? Uncle Justin was a scientist. Granted, his invention was amazing, but hospitals only needed so many. Not to mention that there weren't that many places that had the clientele that could afford such treatments. Steiner just muttered something about important considerations again, and went off to do whatever it was lawyers did while they waited to read a will.  
  
In any case, at seven that night we were in Steiner's office. Uncle Justin wasn't married, but his live-in girlfriend of a little over a year was there. I didn't like Wendy all that much. I had wondered why such a brilliant man invariable chose bimbos to spent leisure time with. He had told me once that he needed someone that looked up to him and wasn't an intellectual challenge. He got enough of that from work. At home he liked to unwind. Justin's friend and colleague Winston was there, and surprisingly two top men from MedGen, the President, Craig Daily, and the CEO, Lucas Winters.  
  
Winston was the last to arrive. I had no idea how he managed in a lab. He was a short, nervous man that was very fidgety. He also sweated a lot. He wouldn't look you in the eye, just a perfunctory glance, and then his eyes were darting all over like he was following a bird trapped in a small room. He knocked over an umbrella stand and almost took out a plant on the way in. Justin told me that once you put a test tube in his hands, he became as graceful and organized as a dancer, but I couldn't see it.  
  
Steiner came in as soon as Winston made his arrival. I knew that he had been working for my uncle since the first patent, and Justin trusted him, but I had a problem with lawyers in general. Maybe it was because the guys that Eye's Only nailed used their lawyers to get out of what they deserved. It pissed me off to see a lot of hard work and nights that Jhondie and I spent together that could have been put to better use (not like that, although…) get flushed because of a few legal maneuvers. Oh well. In real life, the bad guys won more often than the good guys. It was just the way the world worked sometimes.  
  
Steiner sat down behind his desk, and looked us all over. "Since all named parties are here," he said formally, "we may begin." He brought out a remote and pressed a button, and a piece of the wood panel on the wall behind him slid back to reveal a TV screen. "My client, Dr. Carter, wanted to leave a recorded last will and testament," Steiner explained. "It was recorded in the presence of two witnesses, and the notarized documents stating its authenticity are available."  
  
"Mr. Steiner," Daily interrupted, "with all due respect, we are not part of the family and have no interest in the personal nature of Dr. Carter's estate. As a matter of fact, MedGen would hate to intrude upon the family at such a delicate time. Can we perhaps just deal with our part quickly, and allow them to have the privacy they so need?" Smoothly done. I was impressed. Neither of them was pleased to be here. They looked uncomfortable to have to deal with the family.  
  
Steiner shot him a withering look. "I am following my client's instructions," he replied coldly. "And since MedGen is named, I guarantee that you will want to stay and watch Dr. Carter's last words." With the formalities out of the way, he dimmed the lights and hit play, sliding to the side so that we could all see.  
  
My uncle filled the screen. He was sitting in a chair in this exact office. He had that same lopsided grin that I always remembered him wearing. My stomach clinched at the thought that this was the last time I would ever see him and hear his voice. When you lose someone, it's like there's a piece of your own body that ends up missing. I could feel Dad tensing beside me, and I knew he felt the same way.  
  
"Well, I really hope this isn't a bright and sunny day," Justin said. "We don't have enough of those here, and if I made everyone miss an actual pretty day in Seattle, then you all have the right to dig me up and shoot me." I couldn't hold back a breath of laughter. That was my uncle all right. Justin's face sobered. "But if you are here, that means that that I'm not." He sighed. "It's a little macabre to be sitting here on a beautiful day in June thinking about my own death. But I want to make sure there are a few things taken care of, and you know me. I always have to make sure by doing it myself."  
  
I blinked, really looking at him. This was just made in June? He was wearing a suit, but behind the coat, I could just see the green edge of his basically dark blue tie. I recognized it. I should. His birthday was in May, and I sent him a Frankenstein tie as a joke. If he was wearing it, then that meant this was made a matter of weeks ago. That was odd. I would have to ask Steiner.  
  
"In some ways I wish I could have told you all this personally," he added, "but I couldn't. So, here I am now." He took a deep breath. "This is the last will and testament of Justin Albert Carter, being of sound mind and body, I wish for my personal property to be distributed as follows. Winston, you and I have worked together since the day I stepped foot into MedGen. I was blessed to have such a gifted partner, and I want you to have all of my personal equipment. And Winston, I know what you are thinking right now. But it's not true. Our research did not die with me. You know how to continue it on, and you alone have the skills to finish. Please, train someone to assist you, and push forward. The good that we do is our legacy to the world."  
  
"Wendy," Uncle Justin continued, taking a slight pause. She sobbed softly, hearing him speak her name. "You have been a breath of fresh air to me. I know that most people saw you as a little trophy to me, but we knew better didn't we? I'm sorry that we never got the time to take off and do all the things we talked about, but I still love you honey. The apartment is yours, and everything in it, except for anything of family sentimental value, and we talked about that, remember?" Justin's voice was more like he was talking to a child, but from the way Wendy was nodding along as tears streamed down her cheeks, this was the way she was used to him explaining things. "Tom is going to want those things for his kids, and they need to stay with my niece and nephews. But, there's one more thing. Some money has been set aside so that you can take that trip to a warm, sunny beach somewhere like we always talked about. You pick the spot, and Steiner is going to set up the trip for you, just like if we were going together. I want you to lie on that beach and know that I'm still watching you. And make sure you wear that little pink bikini, because I want you looking good when I see you." He smiled, and she giggled then.  
  
After a second, Uncle Justin's smile faded, and he looked directly into the camera, his eyes troubled. "This is the hard part," he said. "When you think about your death, you tend to reflect on your life. And there's one dark spot on mine that I wish could be erased. Tom, I know you forgave me a long time ago. It took our parent's death to make us see that you're only given so much family in the world, and you better make peace with them. What I did to you and Constanza was unforgivable, but you chose to go beyond it, and I thank you for that from the bottom of my heart. I wasn't sure at first, but when you named your oldest son after me, I knew then that you had decided to let go of the anger and bitterness."  
  
"I don't have any excuses anymore. I was young and full of pride, and stupid. I didn't want to see the obvious. I know we agreed to leave it in the past, but this one last time, I want to let you know that I am sorry. You were right, and that's what I was never able to say. I was simply jealous of you. I had the world at my fingers, but you had everything worth living for in one lovely woman. There's only one thing I can leave to you, and that's the truth. You never asked, and I know you wanted to believe Constanza despite everything. It shouldn't matter now, but I think it will to you. The question you never asked? The answer is no. Never. No matter what it seemed, never happened."  
  
Dad let out a breath, and that's when I realized he had been holding it. I was a little confused. What the hell was he talking about? When were they ever estranged? Nobody had ever mentioned this one to me. I knew my grandparents had died in a car accident about seven months before I was born, but nothing was ever mentioned that the accident had brought Dad and Uncle Justin back together. Dad was going to have to do some serious explaining.  
  
Uncle Justin smiled gently on the video. "And now, I need to let Justin know something. I wanted to do something monumental to make up for what I did. When you were born, I saw my family was continuing on. And when you were named for me, it was like I was the one that had a son. Not my blood exactly, but close enough. As we became friends as much as uncle and nephew, I never regretted my decision to do as I did. You have proven to be everything I hoped you would be, although I do wish you would give science a try. You see my boy; I have nothing to leave to you. It's all yours anyways. I was executor until you turned twenty-five, or my death. Since you are an adult, and a very responsible man for your age, I have no qualms at all with you taking over what is rightfully yours."  
  
His smile became a smirk. "If there's one reason I hope there's an afterlife, it's so that I can see you Lucas and you Craig. I know you're sitting there self-importantly, pissed as hell that you had to waste so much valuable time. All you want is for the patents to be turned over to you. Guess what. You see, in my contract, I stated that upon the death of the patent owner, MedGen would get them. Lucas, Craig…didn't I tell you many times that you have to pay attention to details in science? You only wanted to see the bottom line. Well, here is the bottom line for you."  
  
"The patents are in the name of Justin A. Carter. But you didn't see the detail did you? They are made in the name of Justin Alejandro Carter, my nephew. He is the rightful owner. He was an infant when the patent was made. I am listed as executor, and as executor I was able to make contracts involving the patents. The contract is still true, but you don't own them. And whatever bonds I was under to not sell them, he isn't."  
  
"NO!" Daily's shout ricocheted around the room, drowning out the audio. The lights came back up and he was on his feet, fury blazing from every pore in his body. "Those patents belong to MedGen!" he shouted, oblivious to his partner trying to calm him down. His seething gaze went to me, and then back to Steiner.  
  
Steiner didn't flinch as he turned off the rest of the video. "Mr. Daily, I myself set up the patent work and the funds and executorships of the funds. Everything is legal, and proper. And before you threaten to sue, remember, you were the one that signed the contract without confirming whose name the patents really were in. In all of the documentation, there was never once a reference to Dr. Carter owning them. He stated that he had governorship of them."  
  
"I don't understand how any of this was done without my permission," Dad said quickly, looking as confused as I felt. I was still trying to absorb everything. It was in my name? What was the point of that? Well, maybe to sell them later. Maybe they were more important than I had thought and worth more than he had led me to believe. From the way the MedGen guys were about to wet themselves, they had to be worthwhile.  
  
"You gave him permission to set up a trust fund when Justin was born," Steiner answered Dad. "It all went together then, and you allowed him to be executor of the trust in the paperwork that was signed. The patents can be put into anyone's name, and they were entailed with the trust fund. Dr. Carter drew an income as executor, however the bulk of the royalties were properly invested, and is there for your son."  
  
"This is not going to stand in court," Winters said, getting out of his seat. "That was misrepresentation from the start. Any judge will agree with us." He looked at me coldly. "Don't expect to sell them tomorrow. By noon there will be an injunction preventing it." He and Daily left the room in a huff. I couldn't help but wonder how many judges they had in their pockets. Another thought occurred to me. They really wanted those patents. How much did they want them really? What were they willing to do to get them? Call me paranoid from working for Eye's Only, but I was a little nervous.  
  
"The other matters at hand only deal with Mr. Carter," Steiner said to the other beneficiaries. He stood, and very politely herded them out of the room with sympathetic phrases and explaining that he would have their bequests the next day in writing to establish ownership. Then he came back into the room and sat down. There was silence for a moment as we all digested the events of the last half-hour.  
  
"What are we actually talking about?" I asked finally. "My uncle never breathed a word of this to me. I was under the impression that his invention was amazing, but not exactly lucrative."  
  
"It's not," Steiner replied. With the others gone, his smooth veneer was gone, and he seemed much more casual. Now I could see why Uncle Justin liked him so much. "It's not the device so much as the processes involved and the filtering systems involved. You see, the machine is a one-time buy, but the filtering is used up. The agreement with MedGen is that they sold the initial machine, but royalties were paid for the filtering equipment. The US doesn't sell much, but this device sprang MedGen into the international market. Most hospitals in Europe use it, the Japanese use it as a longevity treatment, and a few Arabic kings and princes have one for personal use."  
  
"Right now MedGen is the only company in the world that can do this, aren't they?" Dad asked quietly. He was the businessman and understood dollars and cents better than I did. I could imagine political and economic implications, but he understood bottom lines better than I did.  
  
"They have the rights to use the patents," Steiner replied. "If young Mr. Carter here would decide to sell them to a competitor, than there's nothing MedGen could do. That's why they were so upset." He looked at us both. "Neither of you had any idea of any of this, did you?"  
  
"I knew about a college fund," Dad replied. "When my son graduated, Justin and I talked about it, and with the scholarships that Justin received, there wasn't a need for the money. It was going to be a college graduation surprise so that he could get out on his own easier." Dad grinned at me. "Not that you're being thrown out or anything, but I knew you would want your own space by then." By then hell. I had been seriously contemplating a way to work and go to school so that I could get my own place. I liked living at home, but some things would be easier in my own home, like not having to explain why I was gone all night when I was staking out some stuff for the boss.  
  
"It would be a rather large surprise, I'm sure," Steiner said. He looked at me directly. "Mr. Carter, this morning I showed the bank and investment company proof that it was to be released to you, they gave me the proper figures to present to you. They are also very eager to meet with you and discuss what you would like to do. In any case, as of nine this morning, the total assets are worth slightly over thirty million dollars." 


	5. Fiscal Policies

Jhondie  
  
  
  
"Are you okay?" Justin asked me while I continued to cough and sputter. He knew. Somehow, he knew that I was taking a drink of water when he gave me that dollar figure.  
  
"Did you say million?" I got out, not sure if I had finally flipped out totally or what.  
  
"Thirty million, one hundred sixty-eight thousand, four hundred twenty-one dollars and forty two cents," he replied, giving me the exact dollar figure this time. My jaw was somewhere on the floor. He had called me last night and said that everything was okay, but it was late, and he had to meet with some lawyers and the like in the morning. He said he couldn't explain then, but asked me to find out as much as I could on MedGen.  
  
He had called me back the next afternoon, and that's when he explained to me what had been revealed in the will, and then just as I took a drink of water, told me his new net worth. He was so lucky I didn't spew all over my computer. He had spent the day meeting with lawyers and investment brokers and the like. His Dad was there to help out. Justin was smart, but he didn't do numbers well, unless it had to do with a payoff or bribe or something. All I could think was that we were never going to have to worry about getting strawberries for Dink ever again.  
  
"If you ever even think about me paying for dinner again, you are sadly mistaken," I teased. He laughed tiredly.  
  
"Sweetheart, right now my brain is so fried, I wouldn't be able to figure out how to make change," he replied. He sounded absolutely exhausted. "I don't know if they did it deliberately or what, but they were whipping out charts and graphs and saying words like amortization and fiscal sureties until I didn't know what the hell was going on. I just kept nodding and looking interested."  
  
"Was your dad able to help?" I asked.  
  
He snorted in disgust. "He followed them along with no problems. Kept asking questions about interest bearing tax shelters and foreign money markets. I'm going to have to change my major to finance just to figure out what they were all talking about." He sighed. "If they were stealing it, I'd know what to do, but they're all trying to tell me the best things to do. Like I know how to handle good advice."  
  
I started laughing. I couldn't help it. I could just imagine Justin going cross-eyed with financial figures dancing around him, and his dad sitting there calmly, orchestrating the mêlée. "Do you need me to come up there and protect you from the mean accountants?" I teased. He growled at me, making me laugh harder.  
  
"I think I can survive," he muttered darkly. His tone lightened. "So, how are you surviving the brats?"  
  
"They're being so sweet, I have no idea why you complain about them," I replied. I could almost see him rolling his eyes.  
  
"They suckered you," he declared. "That's the way those two work. You think they're so cute now. Then they sprout fangs and wings and show their true colors."  
  
I was laughing at his description. Actually, it sounded more the way Kayla was acting than his brother and sister. "Tell me you found something on MedGen," he said, breaking into my laughter.  
  
I sat up and pulled up the information that I had. It helped to not have to sleep. Everyone else needed rest. I had eight hours to do some serious research in relative privacy, although I did have an odd moment when Britt woke up about three in the morning and asked me what I was doing still up. I told her that I was worried about Justin and couldn't sleep. It was only half a lie, really. I was worried about him when he was gone. I was expecting her to roll her eyes and pretend to gag. Instead she asked me if I was going to marry him. It would be cool with her since she could use another woman in the house with them. There were too many men.  
  
I sputtered for a while, and managed to get out something about us not ready to go there yet. She smiled and said we better get to it soon, because we were so disgustingly cute together. For some reason, I just couldn't imagine trying to be married and living with my husband's father and brother and sister. After Denise's wedding, I think we had come to and unspoken agreement that neither of us would bring up that subject until we were ready to do something about it seriously. Seriously. A big part of it was that we wanted to finish school and be on our own. Thirty million dollars had just changed that whole dynamic in a big way. Maybe it was a good thing that we were apart right then.  
  
"Yeah," I said into the phone, trying to get my thoughts back where they needed to be. "I got some rather interesting stuff on MedGen. The current CEO and president founded it. Okay, before the Pulse, they were a small medical supply company. Wheelchairs, crutches, hospital beds for the homebound, that sort of stuff. They weren't doing so good either. I found some old financial stuff on them. Wasn't pretty. Then all of a sudden, this guy shows up at their front door and peddles this little device to them. I checked the date of the patenting and signing of the contracts that were filed. Let's just say, I don't think they let the ink on the contracts dry before they were signing them." Justin snorted. They couldn't have waited long if they didn't bother to check and make sure who the patent owner really was. Did he really say thirty million? Damn, that was a lot of money!  
  
"Anyways," I continued. "They went from a little company barely skating by to overnight success in the domestic international market. This is still all pre-Pulse, and they're selling coast to coast all of a sudden. They're picking up contracts from their usual sales to hospitals all over by putting them in as contract riders to selling the blood purifier. I found that in "Salesman Monthly". They loved the idea. The company is making plenty of money now, and the founders are rich as hell."  
  
"Okay, so then the Pulse hits. Wipes out their US market. But, the international is enough to keep the company going. There are a lot of layoffs, but they manage to keep it together. What saved them is the fact that a US company that almost had a similar blood purifier ready to go to market went under before it could get it out. MedGen actually bought them for a song, and got all of their research as well. It probably immediately graced the nearest shredder. A few years go by, and everything is doing just peachy."  
  
"But…" Justin asked when I paused. For some reason, he knew instinctively that there was a "but" coming.  
  
"But about a year ago, they decided to make some risky investments. One of those high-yield kinds of things that I guess someone just knew was going to take off."  
  
"And it fell flat," Justin finished for me. He was so brilliant.  
  
"Like a brick from an airplane," I clarified. "Lost millions. Guess what was keeping the company from going under?"  
  
"There was a twenty-five year clause on the contract," Justin said quietly. "After twenty-five years, the patents could be sold, or Uncle Justin could leave MedGen and the patents would go with him. If he left before them, MedGen still had exclusive rights."  
  
"And you were going to get them when you turned twenty-five," I added. "Amazing coincidence, huh?"  
  
"No matter what, it still gave them four more years." He blew out a breath. "Any more good news?"  
  
"Just a hostile takeover that started a couple of months ago. With the company on shaky grounds, the stock prices have dropped. This other company, BioTech, almost can get the stock they need, but it's just a hair too high. If there was another stock price drop, they could get their hands on MedGen easily."  
  
"The CEO and president didn't seem like the type that would hand over their company without a fight," Justin commented. "When did this all start?"  
  
I checked my timetable again. "Early June," I replied. There was dead silence on the other end. "Justin?"  
  
"My uncle," he said very slowly, as if putting it together in his mind, "he made his will then."  
  
I felt damn near frozen for a moment. "Justin," I said, feeling a little unsure if I should bring it up or not. "Are they sure it was a heart attack? I don't mean to sound paranoid…"  
  
"But you've been working for the boss too long too, huh?" he asked. I let out an embarrassed little laugh. At least I wasn't alone. "I thought about that too, but there wasn't any sign of foul play. He was working, and had mentioned earlier that he thought he pulled a muscle playing racquetball earlier since his arm was hurting. Nobody thought anything of it, and Winston left the lab for like fifteen minutes, and when he came back, Uncle Justin was on the ground. He did CPR and called for an ambulance, but it was already too late."  
  
There was a catch in his voice at the end. Journalists are supposed to report the facts objectively, but I this was hard for him. Damn Zack. I should be there for him right then. "You okay, baby?" I asked. One word and I was going to be heading to Seattle.  
  
"Yeah," he sighed. "It's just been tough. I think Dad is coming home tomorrow to reclaim his brats. He needs to get back to the business anyways. I need to stay up here for a few more days to get everything situated."  
  
"You sure you don't want me to come up?" I asked. It wasn't like the outrages prices for a plane ticket was really an issue anymore. "I could be there by tomorrow afternoon I bet."  
  
"You know," he said ruefully, "every time today I thought about how much I wanted you here, I would see the sector police or some Army-looking guy. This place is still under Marshall Law, love. I'm nervous enough about being here, considering what I do and who I do it for."  
  
I never knew from one moment to the next if I was going to love my enhanced abilities or hate them. At that moment, I despised them. "I miss you," I said, wondering if I sounded as pitiful as I felt.  
  
"God, I miss you too," he replied, so heartfelt it brought tears to my eyes. "You know, as soon as I get home, I was thinking that maybe we could take a few days and go somewhere." His voice took on a sensual rumble. "Me…you…Jacuzzi in the hotel room."  
  
I was glad my door was closed. Nobody would be able to question the sudden flush of color on my cheeks. He was trying to distract me from trying to talk him into letting me come to Seattle. That wasn't fair. I knew he was worried about my safety, but I was the one worried about him. Still, the thought was interesting. And he was only going to be gone for a couple more days. I had survived three weeks without him.  
  
"For some reason, I am seeing champagne, and strawberries that we can eat for once, and not knowing if it's day or night," I replied.  
  
There was a pause. "Two more days, love," he finally said. "I'll be home and you better be packed. And…pack light if you know what I mean."  
  
I laughed. In the background I heard a door opening, and then Mr. Carter's voice. He mentioned dinner.  
  
"I need to get going," Justin said. "Dad's starving. I think I'm buying."  
  
"You better be," I replied. "I love you."  
  
"Love you too." And then he was gone. I hung up the phone, thinking about everything. Maybe I was just being paranoid. I still had a bad feeling. It was possible that there were two companies out there in the world that could have such negotiations going on, and not resort to underhanded tactics and all sorts of things that the boss usually broadcasts, but I hadn't heard of them yet. Just for fun, I started playing around to see if I could get into airline reservation systems. Big surprise, I would be able to book a discreet flight if need be. However, there was that whole paperwork issue that Seattle would require. Oh well. I would just have to stay here. It was only for two more days anyways. What trouble could Justin get into that quickly? Really, it was going to be up to the lawyers for a while until the patents got straightened out.  
  
If I had known then what was to come the next time we spoke, I would have been in the air by sunset. 


	6. Family History

Justin  
  
"How's everything going?" Dad asked as I hung up the phone.  
  
"Jhondie hasn't killed off your other children yet," I replied. "But you might want to get home soon before they decide that nice is boring and turn into their usual selves."  
  
Dad just smiled. He knows that I deep down, I do love them, but they are little brats when they want to be. The problem is that brat is their favorite state of being. Then again Britt loves Jhondie, and she thinks Kayla is "*SO* cool" and I wasn't about to mention that Bryan had a little bit of a crush on Kayla. I figured that one out when he asked if he could start working out with me after he met her for that first time. I guess the age difference didn't bother him, but I wasn't going to let him know that girls don't go for younger guys. I still let him start coming with me. Who knew if he would eventually get a girlfriend with a few deranged brothers? I didn't exactly have a great track record on that count.  
  
"I'm going to have to go home tomorrow," Dad said with a sigh. "With work and the twins, I need to be in LA. All of this can probably be done from there if you want to come home so I can help you."  
  
I shook my head. "I better get used to it as soon as possible since I don't think it's going away. I have your stuff from earlier, and I think I understand it. Enough of it at least. Besides, there's going to be enough stuff about the patents and I need to be here to talk with Steiner about what MedGen is going to be doing, and did Mom and Uncle Justin have an affair?" I didn't mean to say it like that. I really didn't, but it just sort of came out. I was far from naive, and that's certainly what it seemed like Justin had been saying. It was that or he had tried something with Mom. Either way, I wanted to know what the hell had happened.  
  
Dad sat down heavily, blowing out a long breath. "No," he finally said. "They didn't."  
  
"But you suspected." Dad didn't reply. "Something happened," I insisted. I was really a glutton for punishment right then.  
  
"It happened years before you were born," he said. "By the time we had you, it didn't matter anymore. Justin and I had made up, and he was a different man. There wasn't any use in bringing up the past, especially in front of you kids. I asked you mother if anything had happened, and she said no, despite everything that Justin had said earlier. I chose to believe her. I never asked Justin later."  
  
"But you wanted to," I said for him. "You wanted to, but didn't out of respect for her, even after she was gone. That's why he answered it for you."  
  
He nodded slowly, as if trying to decide what to tell me. "Constanza said no. I looked into her eyes and knew that I could still let myself doubt and have suspicion, but that was going to tear us apart. Instead I chose to believe in the best that there was in her, and trust in that. I didn't regret it."  
  
I could respect that. Honestly, it's what I had done with Jhondie and the things that she had told me. Of course, I knew for certain what she had done. I just trusted her not to do it again. "What did happen?" I asked.  
  
Dad shook his head. "It's in the past."  
  
I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. "I thought we agreed that withholding the truth was the same as lying." Dad could only smile ruefully. That was his rule. He had said that if a direct question was asked, not giving the information was no different than a lie. I finally got him to regret that one. Took me almost seven years, but I did it.  
  
"You know that my parents never approved of my marriage," he answered. "I think one of the nicer things that they called her was "that wetback looking for a green card"." His smile became bitter. I had no idea that they felt so harshly towards Mom. Her family was actually quite a bit better off than they were.  
  
"I'm not going to go into all of the details," Dad said, and then quickly added, "and not to withhold information either. It's just too long, and too much I would rather not recall. Suffice it to say that Justin had gotten into an argument with our parents, and just to upset them became friendly with Constanza. She was glad that someone was accepting her, and they became friends. He...I guess he started to believe that he was in love with her eventually."  
  
"You know it was over six years after we got married that you were born. We wanted to have children sooner, but it didn't happen. We went to a doctor about it, and..." he paused, his embarrassment obvious. "It was a little her, but mostly me. When Justin found out, he made an offer to, um, donate what was needed, but she refused. Your mother wanted children in a big way. We talked about adopting, but she wanted one of her own. This was about the time that Justin decided that she should be his wife, and not mine. She suddenly got pregnant, and Justin claimed it was his child, not mine."  
  
My jaw dropped. Please don't tell me that Dad could be my uncle, and not my father. I had asked for the truth. Important lesson for a young journalist: not all truths need to come out.  
  
"Your mother denied it of course, but because of some circumstances, I wasn't sure. Again, I am not going to go into all of the details, but suffice it to say, I wondered. Justin and I got into a huge fistfight over it all. Then...then Constanza lost the baby. Ironically, that's what brought my mother around. She heard the doctor say it was stress induced, and I muttered something about not wanting to raise my brother's kid, and she whacked me upside the head with her purse, calling me a few choice names. She didn't know it, but Constanza heard her. Said that I knew Justin had always had a problem with reality, and that I made a commitment before God, and I was going to be a man and take care of my wife. And if she ever heard me say again anything like what I had said, she would personally make sure I would never have any children."  
  
"Constanza and I were separated for a few months, but eventually, we made up. When we got back together, I asked her if it was true, and she denied it. I chose to accept that answer, and I think our marriage was even better because of it. A few years passed, and then there was the accident and my parents were killed. It had a bigger impact on Justin than me, I think. He realized that he was alone, and all of the bimbos in the world didn't make up for family. The funeral was the first time I had seen him since our fight, and he was a changed man. He had lost that arrogance he always had since we were kids."  
  
"He asked for my forgiveness, and Constanza's as well. It wasn't easy, but we both did forgive him. I didn't want to lose my entire family, and he had humbled himself. I wasn't at first, but your mom was the one that pointed out that he wasn't the man she had known. I didn't realize how much bitterness had festered until I was able to let it go. It eats into you, you know. And then we found out that your mother was pregnant."  
  
I knew part of the story. Mom got extremely sick with some virus when she was about six months pregnant with me, and they were worried about the effect it would have on me. Her immune system was boosted and it was attacking her baby as well as this virus. They were going to have to induce labor early and take their chances that I was going to survive, but Justin showed up with his blood cleaner, and offered to try it. Mom was the first human trial in a real-life situation, and it worked. I was born normal, and that's what prompted them to name me after my uncle. I hadn't known about the rest of it.  
  
"Hell of a lot more than just a thank you when named me after him," I commented.  
  
"I didn't realize until yesterday how much he appreciated it," Dad replied.  
  
As dumb as it sounded, I had to ask. "There's no doubt about me or the twins now, right?"  
  
Dad grinned. "None in the slightest, even though those two surprised the hell out of me and your mother. Here you are, eight years old, and we're happy as can be with the one boy that we had. Then your mother, who's been sick the last few days, sits up in bed at three in the morning, wakes me up in a panic, and is babbling in Spanish and English, and I have no idea what she wants except that I supposed to go to a drug store. I'm halfway there when I call her and ask what the hell I am supposed to be buying. She tells me, and I almost hit a curb. Twenty minutes later, we're watching two little line appear on this stick. Ironically, that ended up meaning two more kids."  
  
I almost fell out of the chair laughing. When mom got really upset, she would speak in both languages, and usually I was the only one that could make sense of what she was saying then. I remembered when they told me I was going to get a brother or sister. I said I would rather have a bike or a dog. When they were born I reminded my parents that a puppy would have been less trouble. I liked being an only child, but after the twins were born, I liked being a big brother even more. Little kids would do anything that you told them to, and the believed anything you said. If you knew how to work them, they wouldn't rat on you either. Not that I would admit it to a soul, but they were cool to have around.  
  
"You ready to get some dinner?" Dad asked, grinning at me.  
  
"What the hell," I said, barely getting myself under control. "Unless there's some other big family secret that you'd like to tell."  
  
"Not today, my boy. Anything you need to tell me before we go?"  
  
"Um, no," I coughed out. I actually had two secrets that he would be very interested in, but I wasn't about to tell him either. That was actually part of the reason that I wanted him back in LA. He was the dollars and cents man, but I knew there was more to the story than what was apparent. I was going to have to start doing what I did best, and Dad was going to find out more than he bargained for if he stayed in Seattle.  
  
Although, in the end, I think we both ended up with a lot more than we bargained for. 


	7. Rude Disconnect

Justin  
  
  
  
Dad's flight was late morning, and it took a good hour of arguing to get him on the plane. He didn't want to leave me to the lawyer wolves, but he had business at home to take care of. I finally reminded him that he had two underage children to think about, and he needed to be home with them. Also, I had asked Jhondie not to tell them what had happened with the will. Dad needed to explain that to them. Had it just been my decision, I would rather they not know anything. Those little extortionists were going to raise their rates for finding dead birds dramatically the next time I needed something from Birdy.  
  
I managed to get him out of there, and then headed to an electronics store that one of the investment guys had mentioned when I asked the day before. He was the same guy that had arranged for me to have a car and a full-city sector pass while I was in Seattle. There was one major thing I liked about having some serious cash. People really started being a help and not a hindrance for a change. In any case, I had told him that I wanted a good laptop, and he told me of one of the few places that you could still get one like I wanted in this city.  
  
He thought that I wanted to keep track of the financial situation and things like that. That was partially true, but I also needed a way to communicate with a certain other person. I wondered what he would say when I told him that I was in Seattle. I couldn't help but to imagine him wanting to meet me face to face. I knew that he had to remain anonymous even to his operatives, but the thought alone was cool.  
  
The day before, I had been given access to check cards, pass codes and all the other stuff to an account with the "liquid" assets. Basically, there was slightly over a million dollars in cash in there. It was hard to think along those terms. Two days before, and a thousand dollars was a lot of money. Now, I plunked down five times that much for something I wanted, and that didn't make a slight dent in one account that I had. Damn, it was going to take time to get used to having money like that.  
  
I ran back to the hotel and got online for a few minutes. I told the boss that I was in Seattle, and needed to know if he knew anything about MedGen that wouldn't be known by the general populace. I told him that I couldn't go into details, and it had nothing to do with anything I was researching for him, but if he had anything, please let me know. It was very important to me personally. Maybe that was practically advertising my name and address to him, but I felt like I could trust him even if he did know who I was. He could have found out if he really wanted to. I felt that if he had something, he would let me know. After all that we had done for him, he owned me a favor or two in return.  
  
Then it was time to meet back with lawyers. MedGen had done what they promised and were filing injunctions against me, and were trying to file suit to get the patents. But they were doing it very, very quietly. I had grabbed a copy of "Streets of Seattle" that morning, and there wasn't anything in there, which was odd in light of the fact that the information about the take-over had been in there. MedGen knew that they wanted to keep this quiet. If there was a whisper that they were going to lose those patents early, then their stock would drop and BioTech would own them by tonight. Steiner was encouraging me to threaten a public spectacle to get them to back off, but I wasn't sure just yet as to what I wanted to do. I wanted to see if Eye's Only had any information on them first. There was still something that wasn't right, and I couldn't figure it out.  
  
I told Steiner not to get nasty just yet. He wasn't happy, but he knew better than to try and push it. Amazing what money will do. People just want to do what you say when you say it. It was decided that they would quietly fight the injunction while I decided if I wanted to sell the patents or keep them or what. One of the investment guys had four different graphs each showing a different possibility. I sat there watching them, and I had to wonder if this is what he imagined doing when he was a little kid. I remembered sitting with my friends and we talked about being policemen or astronauts or jet pilots. Well, my career wasn't exactly that, but I don't remember anyone saying that they were going to compile statistics showing various economic trends (both foreign and domestic of course).  
  
In the meantime, Jhondie e-mailed me the information that she had compiled earlier. She knew I was going to be in meetings all day and would need something interesting to keep me awake. I got something interesting all right. There was one e-mail from her with the subject line of "Future Agenda / Points of Interest". I was very, very glad I was alone in an office, the usual occupant having been kicked out while I was there, when I opened that one. She had gotten her hands on my camera it would seem. And the points of interest that she had photographed were very much on the future agenda. I knew she was flexible, but *damn*. I flipped through the pictures slowly, realizing that I had taken off my jacket at some point. It was rather warm in there. I didn't even notice the other e-mail I had received from a rather anonymous location.  
  
The other e-mail was one of those ones with a subject line that you would immediately delete upon seeing. It said something about meeting new people. You know the type. It's usually an ad for a porn site. For some reason, I didn't think I was going to need such a thing. But then I noticed the address. I opened the e-mail immediately. It wasn't a porn site.  
  
The boss said that an informant would be meeting me at a place called Lizard's. I was to go to the bar and wait at the end. The informant would be there at eight, and would have some things for me that he had picked up about MedGen. He added that he wasn't actively working on anything about MedGen, but BioTech had caught his interest over some things. If I needed some help, let him know. It was weird. Eye's Only was actually offering to help me. That was a switch.  
  
I e-mailed Jhondie that I was going to get her back for the pictures. I would have called her, but with the mood we were both obviously in, it was not something I wanted to do when just anyone could walk in. Now if the office had a lock…no, it was better this way. I still had to talk with one of the bankers about getting everything transferred to LA. They weren't going to be happy, but I didn't want to have to be communicating by phone all of the time. Dad had made the suggestion, and it sounded good to me. When they don't have to see you face to face, they sometimes forget that they aren't the ones that own the money. It made sense, but I still kept getting an odd mental image of an old cartoon character, Scrooge McDuck, swimming in all of his money.  
  
The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get rid of people so that I could get out and get to Lizard's on time. This was the first time I ever met another operative, and I was curious as to what kind of other people worked for Eye's Only. I had an early dinner with Steiner and another lawyer whose name I couldn't remember, but he seemed rather twitchy and went to the bathroom four times during dinner. I was glad to get away from them. I went back to the hotel and Dad called to let me know that he was back in LA, and he had the twins in custody. Jhondie's house was still standing, and her mother hadn't been driven to drinking just yet. Dad said that he told Mrs. Harris he was going to take her to dinner to thank her for letting them stay over there. It was probably more to get them both away from all kids for an evening, but I didn't say anything. I was going to have to come up with a way to thank Jhondie. I could figure out something that she would appreciate.  
  
In the meantime, I had a meeting to attend. I changed out of my suit and into jeans. For some reason, I figured that I would blend into a bar crowd better in jeans than a nice suit. The bar was only a few miles away, and it wasn't too hard to get to. There was a sector check, but my pass let me go anywhere in the city. It pissed me off to think that there were people that were confined to certain areas and they didn't have a choice in the matter. If it wasn't for the money, there would have been no way that Steiner would have been able to secure an all sector pass like this one from the sector police. If my visit had accomplished one thing, it cemented my resolve to help Eye's Only. This had to end one way or the other.  
  
I got to the bar about ten minutes early and went in. There was a dance floor with a few couples dancing, and some tables where people were gathered. A couple of guys were shooting pool at a battered looking table in the corner. It wasn't too crowded, but there were enough people that a stranger wouldn't be noticed. Not a bad place at all. I wondered how many of his meetings had been held here before, in public, but in perfect incognito. I wandered to the end of the bar and sat down. I ordered a beer when a surly looking bartender asked me what I wanted. I wasn't really in the mood to drink, but he probably would have thrown me out if I asked for water. Judging from the taste of what he served, that's pretty much what I paid for at any rate.  
  
At a few minutes past eight a blonde man sat down beside me. The place wasn't packed and there were other places that he could have sat. My heart started beating faster. Either he was the informant or he was about to hit on me. I was hoping for the former. The bartender came over, and actually gave him a smile.  
  
"What'll it be?" he asked congenially. When he asked me that same question, it had sounded more like a threat.  
  
"Beer for me," he replied, saying nothing else until he got his drink and we were relatively alone again. He was a little older than most of the patrons here. They were all mid twenties, and he seemed to be in his early thirties. I wasn't sure if the glasses made him seem older or younger. He looked directly at me, his bright blue eyes seeming to size me up. I still wasn't positive if he was the informant or going to hit on me.  
  
"LA?" he asked in a low voice.  
  
I put down my glass. You see scenes like this in movies all the time, but when it's real, you have no idea how to act. Asking him something like "who wants to know" just seemed way to melodramatic when you considered that only two other people would know to refer to me as LA, and I didn't think Jhondie was around to tell him anything.  
  
"Yeah," I replied. "And I really hope it was Eye's Only that sent you."  
  
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a CD. "I just hope you're the person I'm supposed to give this to," he replied. "He said that if he gets anything else, he'd let you know."  
  
I took the CD, sliding it into my jacket's inner pocket. "Thanks," I replied, standing. "You wouldn't happen to know if he's doing a hack soon, would you?"  
  
The informant shrugged. "I don't know until I see it like everyone else. I don't think he allows live studio audiences at the taping though."  
  
I let out a breath of laughter. "I've never gotten to see a Seattle focused one," I explained.  
  
He shrugged. "You never know about him. He's got a lot to talk about in this city."  
  
"No kidding," I replied dryly. "Well, good luck to you and your work." He gave me a curt nod and I left quickly. I wanted to look over what was on here, but I already knew that was going to come in second to making another phone call to Los Angeles. I couldn't wait to get back there. I missed Jhondie, was sick of lawyers and it was starting to rain yet again as I left Lizard's.  
  
I got back to the hotel as quick as I could, plopping down on the bed and grabbing the phone. I pulled off my jacket as I dialed Jhondie's number. Kayla picked up on the second ring.  
  
"Hello?" she greeted huffily as if I was interrupting her at the absolute worst time possible. Got to love teenagers.  
  
"Jhondie around?" I asked. She sighed, that long drawn out breath to show that she was considered a secretary and she was also quite unappreciated in her own time.  
  
"Hold on." She moved the phone about two inches from her lips and then yelled her sister's name at a volume that could have drowned out a jet engine. Jhondie may have responded, but my ears were ringing, and I didn't hear again until Kayla shouted out "it's Justin!". Great. Inherit thirty million dollars and then have to spend it all to have my hearing redone. Kids.  
  
Another phone picked up almost immediately. "I got it," Jhondie said.  
  
"I'm expecting a phone call from Ginny," Kayla said pointedly.  
  
"Good for you," Jhondie replied cheerfully. "Now hang up and expect it somewhere else."  
  
Kayla let out an indignant gasp and slammed down the phone. Jhondie let out a sigh of disgust. "I have no idea what has gotten into her the last few months," she said. "The worst thing that child ever did was turn fourteen." She let out a little growl, and then I had her attention again. "Hello my love."  
  
"Hey Sexy," I replied. She laughed. I stretched out on the bed, relaxing. God, it was good to hear her voice. The day after tomorrow, I reminded myself. I could go that long, and then she would be back in my arms. We were going to have a lot to talk about then. But it could wait till I came home. We had plenty of time.  
  
Jhondie  
  
  
  
That whole "absence makes the heart grow fonder" thing sucked. Sucked in ways that I did not know things could suck. I missed Justin. I wanted to be with him right now. The scary part was that sex was only a part of it. Yeah, I missed having sex with him, but I missed having my best friend with me too. He was so much a part of my life. I was really starting to hate going to bed and not having him with me. We didn't get the chance to sleep together like that often, but the rare times that I slept, it was usually with him, and right now I missed having him pressed against me.  
  
I had swiped his camera the day before when I had to run Britt back to the house for something that she had forgotten. Then I just got a little creative. From his reply to my e-mail, I thought that he must have liked the results. He said that I better pick out a closet with a lock on it at the airport when I went to pick him up. If not, we would probably both end up in jail.  
  
I almost squished Cody and broke my leg trying to get to the phone when Kayla yelled that Justin was on the phone. Great show of genetically engineered grace and coordination there. She actually thought that I was going to cut it short with him? She was going to get to see her little loser friend tomorrow at school, unless Ginny cut classes again. Whatever. I could deal with her later. I could deal with anything to hear Justin's voice say "Hey Sexy," in that low rumble that said he was feeling frisky.  
  
"Does that mean you liked the pictures?" I asked with a laugh.  
  
He growled at me. "I only had to wait about ten minutes before I could leave that office when I was done looking at them."  
  
"Poor baby," I teased. "Now if I was there, it would have been about half an hour."  
  
"If you were here right now, I wouldn't need nearly that long. At least not the first time."  
  
I shivered. I wanted him so much right then. "I take it that you're really coming home then."  
  
"You better believe it," he replied. "Not much else I can do here anyways. I think I might just sell the patents to MedGen and be done with it. I was thinking about the timing of the will and stuff, and it might just be coincidence and I'm being paranoid. Maybe he saw the company he spent twenty years at getting ready to be bought and changed, and that makes him think about the future and all those "what ifs". So he makes the will, and then it just happens. I have one more thing to check out, and if it checks out, then I'll tell Steiner to make a deal with MedGen. There's plenty of money already, and I don't need any more headaches." He laughed. "That's what I have you for."  
  
"Hey!" I protested with mock indignation. "Just wait till you get home. Then we'll see who has the headache."  
  
"Yeah right," he replied. I could hear the grin in his voice. "All I'm going to have to do is kiss you and you'll be mine."  
  
"Well, you might have to do some other things too," I replied, feeling my heartbeat increase.  
  
"Oh really?" he almost purred. He paused for a moment, and I barely heard "What the…?"  
  
"Justin?" I asked, wondering what the problem was.  
  
"Nothing sweetheart," He replied. "Getting back to where we were, what things might that be?" He was using "that voice". Not fair. He knew what it did to me. Was my door locked? Now I was glad I could move fast. It was shut, locked and I was back on my bed in a flash. After he had been at that workshop for a couple of weeks, we were talking and things had gotten rather passionate on the phone. God, I wanted him there. Phone does not even come close to having him really there.  
  
I opened my mouth to reply, but the sudden noise cut me off dead. With sickening ease, I recognized the sounds.  
  
Glass shattering.  
  
Gunfire.  
  
Silence.  
  
"Justin?" I gasped into the phone. Nothing. "Justin!" I said louder, waiting for an answer that I instinctively knew I wasn't going to get.  
  
Another burst of gunfire, and the line went dead. 


	8. The Chase

Jhondie  
  
For a fraction of a second, I was totally frozen from absolute sheer terror. I had never before in my life been that scared. Running from Manticore? Not even close. All they could do was kill me. This was Justin. This was Justin, and something happened, and there was no way for me to know what was going on and he could be dead or hurt but I didn't know and I might have just lost him even though there was something saying I hadn't and God help whoever was after him.  
  
The tail end of that thought seemed to dig deep into me, into vaults that I had thought were locked away forever, and God help me, I still responded to them. "Under no circumstance is fear or worse, panic, to overrule you," Lydecker's voice echoed in my mind. "The mission is always to be completed. In any situation, you have the training and the ability to adapt it to suit your needs at the time. You will evaluate. Where am I? Where do I need to be? What is my goal? What tools do I have to complete the goal? The rest will follow suit. Soldiers rely on their training, and will adapt it to any situation."  
  
The fear was gone, and I felt like I was acting on automatic pilot, watching myself from a distance.  
  
Where am I?  
  
In my room in Los Angeles.  
  
Where do I need to be?  
  
In Seattle, or wherever Justin is.  
  
What is my goal?  
  
Find Justin. Find whoever wants to harm him. Neutralize the situation.  
  
What tools do I have to complete the goal?  
  
The ability to make a flight reservation without adequate funds. Eye's Only. A story that would stun the hell out of him, but he would do anything to get his hands on it.  
  
I went to my computer quickly and sent him an emergency message, saying that I needed to talk to him ASAP. I went to my closet and grabbed some clothes, shoving them in a gym bag. I didn't even notice until later that the majority of what I grabbed were dark in color and more rugged. Good thing I refused to own a piece of camouflage, even when that style was popular a couple of years back. I would have filled a bag with it without thinking.  
  
My computer beeped, and I jumped over there quickly. It was Eye's Only. Already? He must have been sitting at the computer or something. Good for him. Any delays that get Justin hurt and he was next on my hit list. I didn't have the camera set-up on my machine like Justin did, but we still could do a text message so long as I gave him the correct initial code to let him know that it was really me. I typed my pass code in quickly, and he responded correctly.  
  
"You have an emergency?" he asked.  
  
"I need to get to Seattle, ASAP. I have a flight that I can take, but I need all of the paperwork to get access to the sectors," I replied.  
  
"How fast do you need this?"  
  
"Flight is in three hours. I'll need it when I land."  
  
"The name you want them in?"  
  
I thought for a second on that. I was expecting some kind of resistance, but I guess after all that we had done for him, he knew that he better come through for me. "Leeann Amanda Xavier," I replied, wondering if he would get it.  
  
There was a pause. "I'll do what I can. It's short notice at the moment. I'll contact you in two hours if it's possible. If it isn't, you don't want to come here." My eyes narrowed. There was no impossible right now. If I had to fly up there and kick sector police ass to get out of the airport and into the city I would. Reckless? For once, yes. But I didn't care. There wasn't time to stop and think to realize what I was doing so that I would care.  
  
"LA is in Seattle," I typed. "He's in serious danger right now, and I am going to be there in a few hours, paperwork or no." I was ready at that moment for him to ask what was wrong and why I needed to be there. And when he did, I was going to tell him. Tell him enough to make him realize what I was, and then promise him the rest of the story when we were done. It was crazy, and exposing myself like that was downright stupid, but I had to take the chance.  
  
"Give me two hours."  
  
I almost cried seeing his reply. He wasn't going to ask. Maybe it was just courtesy considering all of the things that we had done blind for him. Maybe it was plausible deniability. Who knew? Who cared? I didn't right then. He had two hours to make it happen for me.  
  
In the meantime, there were a few mundane concerns to deal with. I had no doubt that Eye's Only would come through. Within a ridiculously short amount of time I had hacked a flight reservation. There were more flights being offered at night now than before The Pulse. Since there were only a couple of airlines left, people were pretty much at their mercy. Engines ran more effectively in cooler night air, and that saved them money. I wasn't going to complain. The time was right for me, and it was direct from LA to Seattle. There was just one more detail to take care of.  
  
I still had that feeling that I was outside of my body, watching my actions as I left my room, smiling brightly, and acting like I was excited about something. It was odd because I knew it was me, but it didn't feel like me. I knew what it was. I had a hard time lying to my mother, and she knew it. That's why she knew she could trust me. But she never had to deal with the deceptive nature of a Manticore soldier. X-5182 had a mission to accomplish, and she was well trained to do it. It was simply adapting skills like we had been taught to do so very well.  
  
"Mom!" I yelled, running down the stairs. She poked her head out of the kitchen.  
  
"That was quick," she said, a little surprised at how fast I had gotten off of the phone. Kayla had been watching TV, and immediately scrambled to it, dialing rapidly before I could get my hands on it again.  
  
"I need a ride to the airport," I said excitedly.  
  
Her eyebrows rose. "Really? And where would you be going?"  
  
"That's why my call was so short," I replied, sounding like a normal girl excited about something wonderful. "Justin has to stay longer than he thought with the lawyers and bankers and everything. So, we were talking and he said he missed me, and said that he wished I was there, and I said I wished I was there too, and then he started laughing and said that was great because my flight was in a few hours."  
  
"Oh my," Mom gasped. "What about paperwork and reservations and all of that?"  
  
"Already done," I replied. She had no clue. That was a first. "He totally took care of everything before he told me. Tell me that's not just too much."  
  
She glanced in the kitchen, checking where Kayla was. She had grabbed the phone, and was on the back porch, probably whispering about how they were going to skip school the next day and not get caught. When I got back, if I was still in this mood, I might have a little conversation with Ginny and explain to her why being Kay's friend wasn't the best of ideas. Just like when I explained to Denise at a certain construction site that Justin and her were over.  
  
"Is it safe though?" she asked. "There's police everywhere there. It's still a military state."  
  
"Do you really think Justin would ask me to come if it wasn't safe?"  
  
She nodded. "I suppose not. He doesn't seem to be the type that would put you in danger." She was examining my face and expression, looking for something that would tell her that there was something missing, that I wasn't saying something. But I just smiled as sweetly as before. There was no telling that I was lying through my teeth.  
  
She smiled. "Well, when is your flight?" I gave her the time, and she laughed. "You better get to packing quick. I don't think your beloved would be happy if he went through all that trouble and you missed your flight." I grinned and ran back upstairs.  
  
Two hours later, the boss came through. When I landed, all of the papers would be there. . Thank God. I had a feeling he was getting a set for someone else, and it was easy enough to get a second set of papers while he was at it. I asked him if he had heard from Justin. He said that he hadn't since I had contacted him, but if he did, he would get a hold of me. I had no question that he would be able to get me somehow. Another hour later, and I had my seat up and the tray table in the upright and locked position as we took off from Los Angeles. I looked out the window below and watched all of the twinkling lights of the cities below. For a moment, I closed my eyes and prayed.  
  
Hold on Justin. I'll be there soon. Just be okay when I get there.  
  
  
  
Justin  
  
The definition of having a bad day: spending it all with lawyers instead of going home and being with the woman you love. The definition of a spectacularly bad day: spending it with lawyers, finally getting to talk to the woman you love, and then get interrupted rudely by someone trying to make you slightly dead. And what really made it worse was that when I got back to the hotel after meeting the informant, I found out that I had missed a broadcast from the boss. He was real hot on some guy that he said was selling fake drugs to vets for the Balkan War Syndrome.  
  
If I hadn't had experience with Jhondie, when I saw the shadow outside my window while I was talking to Jhondie, I would have ignored it. I was on the sixth floor. People don't notice shadows outside of their windows when they are that far up. However, when you get used to a girl that can be up there like that, you start to notice little things. It saved my life that night. I was still watching it when I went to start talking to Jhondie again, and that's when there was a glint as the shadow changed position and I saw the gun.  
  
I dropped to the ground a split second before gunfire erupted into my room, bullets spraying into the wall behind where I had been sitting just a moment before. I heard Jhondie say my name, but there wasn't any time to respond to her. Whoever was trying to kill me came through the window, and I launched an offensive.  
  
I lay there quietly; not daring to breath until whoever it was came within range. From my position on the floor, I spun on the heel of my hand, my foot lashing out and slamming into the guy's knee. There was a dry crunching sound, like someone stepping on a bag of Fritos as he knee shattered. He fell to the ground, the gun going off again, riddling the ceiling above me. I didn't waste time hoping that room was vacant before leaping on him. I would have tried to get some answers out of him, but there was someone else out there, and they were probably coming in with more firepower. Time to make a graceful exit.  
  
I decked the guy one time, feeling his nose shatter under my fist. He went limp, and I was out of there, grabbing my laptop off of my desk, and heading into the hall. There weren't that many people on my floor, but the guests that were there were coming out of their rooms. I didn't hang around to answer questions. Whoever was after me probably didn't care if I died in front of witnesses or not. The guy that I hit had been wearing a mask. Maybe I should have taken it off so I could remember who it was later like they do in movies, but when it happens to you the first time, you don't think about later. Your primary concern is being not dead.  
  
I hit the stairwell, not wanting to risk being trapped in an elevator if there was an unfriendly waiting for me. Later experience taught me that you take the elevator, but you get on the roof of it and let them shoot up the empty car. But the first time someone that you don't know tries to kill you for reasons that you also don't know, it's a very scary experience.  
  
There were people in the hotel lobby, most of them running around, and lucky for me, some were vacating quickly. The hotel was in a nicer section of the city, and there weren't that many shootings around here. From what I knew, in some sectors kids used dead bodies to mark the outfield when they played baseball. One sector over, and people were discussing designer clothes and how hard it was to find a decent maid. In any case, when guns started going off in this sector, people got scared and ran instead of ignoring it.  
  
I headed down the street, ducking down another side street, wondering if I was being followed. I wasn't sure how long I ran, but it was enough to get me away from the hotel. Now what? Go to the cops? I knew about the cops around here. If whoever was after me owned one, I was still a dead man. There would be an accident or something, and nobody questioned the police if they valued their lives. I stopped, ducking into an alley and leaning against a building, trying to think. What do I do?  
  
Eye's Only. Contact him. Let him know that I needed help. I might have to explain the whole situation to him, but it would be worth it. Chances were that he knew who I was anyways. As long as he didn't know about Jhondie, it was fine by me. It was starting to rain, a light misting rain, and my jacket was back at the hotel. How much worse was the day going to get? I bent over to stretch for a second when a single gunshot rang out, driving into the bricks where I had just been standing.  
  
A car's headlights flicked on, bathing me in light. Maybe they were expecting me to stand there, stunned at the light. No such luck for them. Maybe if this was the first time I had been shot at I would have been too scared to move, but I had been in bad situations before. Granted, I had a genetically engineered partner at the time that didn't want me to get killed, but the point is that I wasn't frozen. I took off like a bat out of Hell, half leaping over a dumpster to block off another shot before they could take it. The alley was too narrow for the car to go down, so maybe I had a fighting chance.  
  
There were some apartment buildings near by, upscale ones that notice things like strangers, and more than likely, the people living there own a few cops of their own. Whoever was after me probably wouldn't want to risk following me into a crowded area again. Especially when cops showed up there quickly. In front of witnesses, the cops couldn't exactly ignore a murder. At least I hoped not. It was a plan at any rate.  
  
I was glad that I had gone to so many meetings now at different offices. It had given me a good layout of the city, and I knew where I wanted to go. There was an office building next to this huge apartment high rise. I had seen it in passing the other day with Steiner. It had a weird name like Froggy Towers or something like that. The important thing was that Steiner had joked that if I wanted to move to Seattle that was a good place to move to. Really upscale and exclusive kind of place. Exactly what I needed.  
  
I was on the backside of the building and had to cut through an alley to get around to the main entrance. They could be waiting for me. I had to take the chance. I darted across the street, hoping that I had lost them at some time in the dark. Why was I even asking for good luck at all that night? I wasn't sure who was more surprised, them or me when we damn near ran into each other in the middle of the alley.  
  
My saving grace was that it was too close for them to use a gun. There were two of them, and with all of the movement, they might hit the other one. They both attacked, but that was when I realized exactly how much I had picked up from Jhondie over the last year and a half. Working out and building strength was all fine and good, but there was a lot more to hand- to-hand combat than brute force.  
  
The first guy jumped me quickly, knocking me back into the wall. My laptop fell into a pile of garbage, and then I was free to retaliate. His hands were around my throat, and instinctively I wanted to grab at them, but instead I punched low into his ribs. He flinched a little, and that gave me the leverage for a kidney shot. My vision was starting to darken a little from lack of oxygen, but I hit him hard enough to make him turn slightly gray and his grip loosened so that I could get some air. My hand shot around his arm and slammed into his nose, shoving him off of me.  
  
We both stumbled into the center of the alley, and I ducked fast, dropping to the ground and barely avoiding the other guy's knife. I kicked up, nailing him in the stomach, and knocking him back. I was on my feet in a second, circling with the guy with the knife. His partner was getting back into the game too, but I wasn't out by a long shot. I jumped forward, grabbing the guy with the knife, and swinging him so that the other guy plowed into him, and not me.  
  
There was a slight noise above us, and I glanced up, fully expecting death from above at this point. It was dark, but some reflected light illuminated a woman on the side of the building. There was a fire escape at the side, and if she could get way up there, then so could I. I couldn't really see where it went all the way up, but the building was shut down and closed up, so there had to be some way to get up there. One of the attackers was back on feet, catching me with a roundhouse punch on my cheek. I fell back over a trashcan, landing on the ground with an impressive clatter, and slamming my head on the wall.  
  
For a moment I saw stars, and then he was standing over me, gun drawn. "Goodbye Mr. Carter," he said politely.  
  
I'm not sure exactly how I managed to do it, but I think I somehow got a single second of absolute speed and coordination, and I managed to not waste it. One foot was flat on the ground, and I shoved up using it and my hands, my other foot flicking up and kicking his wrist. I fell back into the garbage, the shot ringing upwards instead of into me. Cool move, but there was no way I was going to do it again, and he didn't lose the gun like I thought he would. Time went to slow motion. The gun swung back down at me, triumph in his eyes.  
  
And that's when a single shadow behind them suddenly became solid. 


	9. Contact

Justin  
  
He didn't come close to getting off the second shot. His finger moved back to the trigger, and then all of a sudden, the gun was out of his hand, and he was airborne, slamming into the wall above me. I moved quickly to avoid having his limp body land on me. A blur of motion reached the other man, and he too was suddenly out of commission with a sharp crack of breaking bones. He fell to the ground, convulsing a couple of times, and then was still. I would have been slightly horrified at such a cold killing, but since the guy was trying to kill me first, it seemed rather appropriate. My benefactor stopped moving, and my eyes locked with Zack's.  
  
He glared at me, and I wasn't sure for a minute if he only stopped them because he wanted to do it himself or not. If he did, then I was screwed right then and there. I couldn't think of another reason right then as to why he would have saved my life, unless he was going to do that "since I saved you, you owe me so stay away from Jhondie" thing, but Zack didn't strike me as the type that negotiated.  
  
"There's more where they came from," I said, still breathing hard. He hadn't broken a sweat. Bastard. "And they seriously want me dead. If you don't mind, I'm out of here. Thanks." Right then headlights pulled up and stopped. We heard a door slam. Oh hell, here we go again.  
  
"Follow me," he growled, looking pissed that he was helping. I grabbed my laptop, and noticed him take a glance upwards. But then he took off down the alley, running just slow enough so that I could keep up with him. We weren't going up? Then why that glance up?  
  
We darted across the street, cut down a side road, and then ducked into another alley. There was a dumpster in it, and behind it was a break in the wall. We slipped through it, and into a basement. It was dark and smelly, and I could barely make out other bodies lying on the floor, homeless people that had snuck in and were sleeping there for the night. This sector of town was safer, so I guess it was better to stay here than outside, even though the chances of getting arrested were higher. But then, what was getting arrested except that you'd get a warm place to sleep and food to eat?  
  
Zack slipped around the people, not even coming close to stepping on one as he weaved about them. He reminded me a little of Jhondie in the way that he moved, except in her what was liquid grace was in him rougher, each movement more economical. He moved more like a solider and she moved more like a dancer. I had wondered if the X-5 were like her, but it was now fair to say that for at least one of them the soldier roots had run deep.  
  
We went to a corner area that was pretty much clear of other human beings. "What did you do?" he snapped. He didn't have to add "and how much is Jhondie involved."  
  
"They're not happy that I inherited something they wanted," I replied. "If I'm dead, they get some patents. Lot of money, that kind of thing."  
  
He didn't change expression. I didn't think money would impress him much. He might not mind utilizing it, but it wouldn't cloud his judgment. I couldn't help but to contrast him with Jhondie. She was always smiling and open. There were times when shadows of the past would darken her eyes, and occasionally I saw flashes of what she could have been, but for the most part she was just Jhondie. It wasn't hard to see Zack's roots, and the hardness that had made him their leader. He was about my age, but years ahead of me in maturity and strength.  
  
"Anyways," I continued, knowing that he wanted to drop me off and get back to whatever it was he was doing, "Thanks for not letting me get killed out there. I have a couple of people to contact, and I'll get this taken care of."  
  
That got a reaction. "You're contacting Jhondie?" His tone had an edge of steel to it.  
  
I couldn't believe that he would even ask me that. "Are you insane?" I snapped, not caring that he could break me into little pieces in a heartbeat. "You think I'm dumb enough to get her in the middle of this?" I lowered my voice. "I don't care how strong or fast you are, these guys aren't playing. It would only take one bullet, and she's dead. I will not risk her life like that for my personal gain." Yeah, a genetically engineered bodyguard would be great, but not Jhondie. No way. She was going to be worried, but I'd let her know that I was fine, and she would stay safe in LA. I did not want her here. Not in this military state, and not when I knew she was willing to risk herself for me. It wasn't worth living if the cost was her life.  
  
Zack didn't reply. He didn't have to. He must have known that I was dead serious on that point. There was no way I was going to risk her life. Chances were that I wouldn't even tell her that I had run into Zack here. If she didn't know, then he had a reason for keeping it from her. I didn't want to know what it was. The only thing I cared about was getting back to LA in one piece. After I found out what was going on.  
  
"You'll be safe here tonight," he said. "Go back to Los Angeles." He gave me another piercing stare to accompany the order, and then turned and left, climbing out a break in the boarding over a window and disappearing into the night.  
  
I wasn't planning on staying there that night. I had a lot to do, including finding out who had killed my uncle and was now trying to kill me. I wasn't sure how they did it, but I had no doubts that my uncle didn't die a natural death. MedGen wanted a war, well, they just got one, and I had an ally they never would have suspected. I wondered if Steiner was all right. He seemed like the next target. Maybe not since he had to probate the will. Didn't matter. They hadn't managed to kill me, and that was their mistake.  
  
My laptop had a cellular modem installed in it. Pretty sweet setup. I checked the time and cursed. We had been playing cat and mouse games for a couple of hours now. The first thing I did was e-mail Jhondie and told her not to worry. I was safe, and I was going to call her as soon as I could. I didn't want her to come here. I added that I would need her to do some research there for me, so the best thing was for her to stay. I sent the e- mail, knowing that it would at least let her know I was fine. She couldn't afford a plane ticket to get here, and she wouldn't have the paperwork, so I was safe in that respect.  
  
I leaned back, wondering whom I should contact. Steiner? What if he was involved in some way? Dad? If he didn't know, then he was going to be freaked out and come back here. The last thing I wanted was for him to be in the line of fire. I could handle myself, but if the bad guys got hold of him, there was a major bargaining chip. I didn't want to explain the entire situation to the boss. From what I had heard, he seemed to have his hands full right now. Maybe he would have an informant free that could help me out. I wasn't about to go back to LA just yet. I opened another e- mail and typed a message to Eye's Only.  
  
When I contacted you earlier, I was suspicious of MedGen, and had my reasons to be, I wrote. My suspicions were confirmed tonight. I believe that they murdered someone close to me because it was contracted that patents would belong to them upon the owner's death. However, he didn't own the patents. They were mine. I have not rescinded the contract yet, and MedGen's involvement became obvious tonight when a man broke into my hotel room earlier and shot up the place. Several others came after me, but I eluded them. Do you have someone that can assist me right now? All information will of course be turned over to you for a hack, since that's more likely to get a result than the police. Also, if you should happen to need anything from LAX, please do not tell her about this. I let her know that I'm fine, and I don't want to worry her more than she is already. Thanks.  
  
I sent it, hoping that he would be able to respond quickly. Zack said that I would be safe there for the night, but I wasn't exactly comfortable. The dark wouldn't bother him, but I didn't like not knowing about my surroundings. I wasn't sure exactly where we were and who else was here. It had also started to rain outside, and the damp chill was filtering down. Who would have thought that August could be cool and miserable? I missed LA. But first things were first.  
  
The CD with the information that I had gotten on MedGen earlier was still in the laptop. I loaded it up and started poking around, trying to sort out what I knew and what was new to me. Some of the information was things that Jhondie had found, but there was also stuff on BioTech that I didn't know about. I was glad that I got the laptop with the extended-life battery in it. This was going to take a while to sort.  
  
I got the main players and where their locations were. EO had personal information and background stuff on several of them. It surprised me a little to find that the head of BioTech was a more shady character than the MedGen people. He probably just wasn't as good at hiding it as the MedGen people were. He seemed to like underhanded deals to get these companies that were in financial distress. I wondered if he knew what MedGen was willing to do to fight back. He might not want MedGen if the cost was going to be his life.  
  
I leaned back. Of course, he might not want MedGen at all if I sold the patents to him. I pulled up more information. Robert Brink. He had started BioTech with a partner that was a doctor. The doctor had died about ten years ago, and Brink took over the whole business. His last target was a small pharmaceutical company, but there wasn't much on it, just that it manufactured anti-depressants. MedGen was next on the chopping block, but they weren't going down without a fight.  
  
If he had the patents, then MedGen would collapse at any rate. Without financial backing, it would be easier for me to find out how they killed Uncle Justin. And without money, they couldn't buy any police or judges. Bastards might actually serve some time in jail. It still nagged at me that they had four more years before they lost all control. Why take such a big risk? There had to be more there than I or Eye's Only knew.  
  
A soft beep alerted me to a new e-mail. It wasn't from Jhondie. That disturbed me. It was from the boss. He apologized for the delay and gave me a time and place to meet an informant. He said that he was going to be extremely busy for the next couple of days, and probably not be reachable.  
  
I checked the time. I had been there for a while going through all of that information. I had been running the last few days on minimal sleep, and now I was exhausted. I hoped the informant had a safe place in mind where I could get a few hours of sleep. The place I was supposed to meet him seemed a little odd, but once I thought about it, it made sense. There were lots of people and police around there. In any case, I had better get moving. It was across town, and I didn't want to be late.  
  
I was lucky that I hadn't taken off my sector badge when I got back to the hotel. It was still on a cord around my neck. I had that and about fifty bucks on me. That should be enough to get me to where I needed to go. I closed up my computer and headed back into the streets. I could only hope that el crazed gunmen had given up for the night. They thought they would get another chance, I was sure. They didn't know me very well. I didn't get mad. I got even. 


	10. Reunion

Jhondie  
  
I hate flying. It's not the act of flying that I hate, it's the airlines and stupid pilots and planes and lines and mechanics and even that girl behind the counter. By the time they announced that we were going to be landing in Seattle, I had vowed to do something evil to the lot of them as soon as I got the chance. I got stuck with a layover and paced for over an hour, waiting until I could get back on the plane and get to Seattle. What the hell is their problem with a direct flight? That's what I was supposed to have at least, but no, they just had to decide there was some problem or the other and we had to land then. Since we could land there, why not just go on and land in Seattle and have problems there?  
  
If there was the slightest problem with the paperwork, then I was just going to bust my way out of there, and deal with the sector crap later. I was not in the mood to play games when the passengers started to get off of the plane. The guy that had sat next to me knew that quite well. He smiled at me a few times during the first bit of the flight. Then he tried to talk to me. I told him to shut the fuck up. He got the hint and moved to another seat. I was not in a mood to play.  
  
Justin. Where are you? Are you hurt? Did you get away? Will I be able to find you? That was all I could think during the entire flight. I tried to plan and strategize, but those thoughts kept creeping in and breaking my concentration. I was so scared that he was hurt. Maybe he had been able to get a hold of someone while I was in the air or getting to the airport. I could find him. I was going to start at the hotel, and work my way around. The lawyer, Steiner. Maybe Eye's Only. Then…I wasn't going to think about that just yet. Get the initial recon, and go from there. That was the plan.  
  
I went to the counter and patiently waited in line for my passes. I gave the girl there the fake name and she smiled sweetly, and asked me if I would mind waiting for a moment. She didn't know how close she came to death right then and there. A second later, a manager-looking type came out, and handed me my paperwork with an envelope on top. He flashed me a nervous smile and muttered something about a mutual friend leaving me a note.  
  
I stepped to the side and opened it, scanning the words. "Waiting area C outside of terminal A." Short and sweet. Eye's Only himself? Doubtful. Maybe he sent an informant to help me get started. That seemed more likely. I stood in line, thinking of a good "thank but no thanks" speech if whomever it was wanted to tag along. There might be some nasty work up ahead, and I didn't want a civilian getting in my way. Ally or not, he didn't need to know about me, and I could handle any situation far better than he could.  
  
I shouldered my backpack and waited in the line for the police to check me through. I had to be nice here and not let them see that I was agitated. My ID was good, and the papers looked well enough, but under careful scrutiny, I wasn't sure what would happen. I would much rather walk out of here than fight out of here. It would be less trouble in the long run. The police finally got to me, and searched my backpack. Freak. I noticed him lingering when he sifted through my underwear. And it was the plain cotton stuff, not the silky lace. One word out of him, and he was going to have a flying lesson.  
  
They let me through, and I silently thanked the boss for getting me quality paperwork. I had a full city pass, and the inspector gave me a smile and wished me good day. Maybe that passed as flirting here. Whatever. I wasn't in the mood. I strode out of there, heading to the waiting area that the note had said. I thought about not going at all, but if he was sent by Eye's Only, then he deserved the courtesy of acknowledgement. I scanned the waiting area. It wasn't crowded, but there were several people there. Whoever it was had better know me, because I didn't have a clue.  
  
There was a mother with a couple of snot-nosed little brats. One was wailing loudly. The other was swinging from the arm of the chair while she tried to bottle feed a baby. At least she wasn't whipping her boob out for the world to watch her feed the kid. A couple in their forties sat in the corner, and they jumped up as I approached. I thought for a minute they were coming to me, but a young woman behind me ran to them and they embraced tightly. There was a guy yammering on his cell phone loudly, and then someone else sitting behind a newspaper. If it was the loudmouth, then I was going to save the speech and walk out right then and there.  
  
The man holding the newspaper rearranged it slightly, and my heart suddenly started slamming in my chest. For a second I felt a little dizzy. Was that my imagination or did I get a flash of dark hair and familiar knees? Don't let it be coincidence, I prayed. Please let it be him. I steeled myself, forcing self-control where I wanted to run over there and jump on him. I walked forward, and with a single finger, lightly pressed down on the top of the paper.  
  
Justin  
  
Exhausted was not the word for how I felt when I got to the airport. Public transportation in Seattle was like a game show. The big prize was that the bus would actually show up. I finally got there, and was shocked to see that I was on time. Actually, I was early. Maybe it was because on driver was on a phone talking about some hot chick he was supposed to be meeting at a bar and that he had to get there fast. Then he hit the gas, and I realized that I had less of a chance dying with those gunmen than on this bus.  
  
The airport was a good selection for a meeting. With night flights being more prevalent, there were people around, not to mention the sector police. I was fairly confident that it would be harder to shoot me here. At least I hoped so. At that point, I was almost too tired to care. I had been told to go to a certain waiting area, and I grabbed a paper on the way. "Streets of Seattle" was a pretty decent publication even if it was held under censorship. But the best part was that the paper was large enough to block me from view. An informant would know to look for me there, but most other people wouldn't notice me. I could go for anonymity just then. And then a hand rather imperiously pushed down my paper.  
  
I looked up, not sure if I was going to see a cop or an informant. Neither. What I was not expecting was seeing Jhondie standing right in front of me. For a moment her expression was almost scary. It wasn't the woman I knew. It was cold and calculating, and…and a lot like Zack. And then the mask broke, and I was suddenly on my feet and we were holding onto each other like we were drowning. I didn't want her to be there. It wasn't safe. It was crazy. But damn I was glad to see her.  
  
I didn't care what kind of spectacle we were making when I kissed her. I guess people must have thought we just hadn't seen each other in a while. That was partially true, but they had no clue as to how truly happy I was to see her. Wait, no I wasn't. I wasn't supposed to be. She should not be here. This was not exactly a vacation spot, and she was going to be in the line of fire.  
  
We finally broke apart, and I managed to get in the first words. "What are you doing here?" I asked in a low voice.  
  
Her eyes didn't leave mine. "Making sure you weren't dead," she replied.  
  
"I told you I wasn't."  
  
She looked confused. "When? By the time I left, I hadn't heard a thing. God, Justin, I had no clue what happened, and I was scared to death."  
  
"We must have just missed each other then," I muttered and then hugged her again. "You shouldn't be here."  
  
She pulled back and gave me her best "you did not just say that look". It's a pretty good one actually. She has to be really mad to make it work though or else she just looks cute. She wasn't quite cute at that moment. "I shouldn't?" she said in a low voice that should have been a shout. "I admit I don't know exactly what happened, but it sounded to me like someone was trying to kill you. Someone is after you, is there anything in the world better to have than something like me?"  
  
"You mean something better than knowing that you're safe and not risking your life, and not being a fugitive in a military state?"  
  
She glared at me, and then waved her hand dismissively. Oh no, she did not do that. "It doesn't matter. I came here to find you and get you back to LA in one piece. We can get on the next flight and…"  
  
"And you can enjoy the peanuts on your way back," I interrupted. Her eyes flared up at me. I realized we were being looked at, so I took her by the arm and smiled and we started walking out of the airport. "I can't leave yet Jhon."  
  
"Like hell you're not," she snapped. "Little hint about life. When people start shooting, they're serious. It's time to call pride and walk away."  
  
"I kind of noticed that they were serious," I retorted. "I was the one that spent a couple of hours last night playing hide and seek with them."  
  
"I got those patents and now they're after me," I said. "It stands to reason that they want to kill whoever owns them, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the last person they thought owned them also died."  
  
"That's all the more reason for you to leave," she insisted. "There's a hell of a lot more people that would rather you live."  
  
I grabbed her arm and turned her so that she was facing me. "That is all the more reason for me to stay," I said firmly, my eyes locking onto hers. "They're not going to stop if I'm in LA. And I'm not leaving here until I know exactly what happened to Uncle Justin."  
  
She debated for a second, and then shook her head. "No. It's too dangerous. At least in LA you're playing on home turf. You're going back with me and that's final."  
  
I had never heard her like that before. But I had heard that exact tone and seen those mannerisms. I couldn't help a smirk of disbelief. "Sure Zack. Whatever you say." I let go of her and started walking away.  
  
She caught up to me easily, the outrage obvious. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she hissed.  
  
"Let's see," I replied sarcastically. "I've got to find out who killed my uncle, get the bad guys thrown in prison, and shut down their company. I've got way too much to do to wait for you to stand down from this soldier crap and start thinking again. What I need is my partner, not a commanding officer."  
  
I moved so that we were maybe an inch apart. "You know I love you," I continued in a low voice. "I didn't expect you here, but since you are, you can either stay and help me or get your ass back on a plane to LA so I don't have to worry about it. Either way, I'm staying. If this was one of your brothers or sisters, you'd be doing the same damn thing." I kissed her forehead and then turned and walked away. I was a little shocked at what I said to be honest. Not that we hadn't argued before, but I had never been that blunt or harsh with her before. At least she wasn't the type to start crying at the start of an argument. As much as I hated to admit it, her tears worked on me. Still, I couldn't go back and apologize and leave. I had to stay.  
  
I made it out of the airport when a hand touched my arm. I turned and Jhondie was standing there. "I don't like this at all," she repeated. She gave a little shrug and a half smile. "But partners don't desert each other even when one is being dumb. So where do we get started?" 


	11. Planning

Jhondie  
  
We got started by going to this little rat hole that called itself a motel and made some plans and then let Justin get some sleep. He looked totally exhausted. He didn't want to show it, but I knew that he usually did well on about five hours a night, and he hadn't been getting even that the last few days. I was still angry that we were here at all, and this was just case in point. He shouldn't be putting himself in this situation. He wasn't equipped for it. It was too dangerous, and he was just exposing himself for nothing. Damn, I did sound like Zack.  
  
The first thing that Justin did was to leave Steiner a voice mail from a payphone near the airport and later an e-mail message with the same note. Despite what it looked like, he was fine. Suspend all negotiations, and tell nobody anything, and that included Justin's dad. Tell MedGen nothing. Reply via e-mail to indicate that he got the message and was clear. Justin would be getting back with him later. The messages were short and to the point, but they verified that Justin was alive and well, and that MedGen had no claims to anything.  
  
"What gets me is why would they stoop to murder if they had four more years to regain economic stability," I said after Justin sent the messages. He had filled me in on what he had researched, and we were debating the next move. I was perched on the windowsill watching him pace the tiny room. I was keeping an eye on the outside despite the musty smell of the curtains.  
  
Justin sat down on the bed. "Something happened with BioTech," he said. "From what I read, those people are absolute barracudas." He blew out a breath, and looked at me. I could almost see a light bulb lighting up over his head. "What if they found a way out of the contract? Some kind of loophole that would let Uncle Justin out early. They found it, presented it to him, and then he goes to MedGen to let them make a counter-offer."  
  
"But MedGen doesn't have the cash to make a counter," I said, seeing where he was going on this. "What they have is a contract that says if the owner dies, they get the patents."  
  
"So if the person they think owns them dies before that loophole is used, then they still win. As a matter of fact, they win even better because then the patents are theirs forever," he finished, his eyes bright and mouth tight with anger. He punched the pillow beside him. "And they think they're going to get away with this," he snarled. "This lawsuit is just a red herring so I wouldn't think they would kill me for them."  
  
I got up and sat down beside him. I knew how he felt. I went rather psychotic for a while when my father was murdered. I couldn't have just walked away from that. I wanted blood, and if it weren't for Justin to keep me balanced, then I would have gone way over the edge. How could I expect him to feel any less? He helped me then, and I was going to back him now. I took his hand.  
  
"They can't get to you now," I said softly. "They might think they can, but they've never had to deal with anything like me before. We know what's going on. All we have to do is prove it, and let them spend the rest of their lives in prison."  
  
He shook his head and then lay back on the bed. "Just have to prove it," he said bitterly, crossing his arms. "Sure. People like this own cops and judges. They buy juries. The only way to get enough proof in so that someone has to take notice is to tell where the information came from. No problem right? I'll just let them know that Eye's Only gave me enough information to let me and my girlfriend break into these places and get evidence to show they are killers. Why my girlfriend too? Oh, didn't I mention she's a fugitive from a genetic engineering project?"  
  
I wanted to hit him. I really did. The amount of self-control I used right then was quite impressive. Instead I leaned over him. He was still staring at one of the many black spots on the ceiling, and wouldn't look at me. "Justin, honey," I said sweetly. "Did you get a rule book that says only bad rich guys can play dirty, or can good rich guys get nasty too?"  
  
He blinked and then looked at me with vague interest that translated to "what the hell are you talking about". "See, the way I see the headlines," I continued, "it's more like Company VIPs Indicted for Murder of Millionaire's Uncle. If they can buy judges, then so can you now. And I'm willing to bet that they would much rather be bought by an upstanding young man on the rise rather than some murderers on their way out."  
  
"That's not the way I want to do things," he replied. "I don't want to be what I'm fighting against. The last thing I want to be is a hypocrite."  
  
"Listen," I said, not believing that I was trying to talk him into this. In this mood he would be easy to get back to LA. But something said that if we didn't do this, he would never forgive himself. "It's a risk you might have to chance taking. But you're not going to know unless you try."  
  
"What about you?"  
  
"What about me," I replied cheerfully. He hadn't noticed at all. How cute. My sector pass had gotten tucked into my shirt and I pulled it out. "According to the world, Jhondie Katherine Harris is safe and snug in LA. You're the brilliant young journalist with hot connections. And trust me, I can avoid being seen or heard. The only other people that know I'm here is my mother and sister. Kay is too dense lately to realize what's going on, and worst-case scenario, your dad is going to have to know why I was the best person to be here. I'd rather that not happen, but if it has to, then it has to."  
  
He examined the name on the pass and then smiled a little. "No wonder he didn't say anything when I told him not to tell you that I was in a little trouble. He had already set things up for you to be here." He shook his head, still smiling. "Did he get the initials?"  
  
I shrugged. "Probably. I bet he knows us well enough to know that he did not want to be in the middle of that domestic situation."  
  
"I don't blame him in the slightest," Justin replied, and then yawned.  
  
"Why don't you get some sleep," I suggested gently.  
  
"Too much to do to sleep," he replied. Now that the anger and adrenaline that was keeping him going was fading, he was obviously too tired to do much of anything.  
  
"Actually, I think we're going to have to wait for nightfall anyways," I said. One dark eyebrow rose in question. "MedGen isn't going to have papers around admitting that they killed your uncle. But I'm willing to bet that BioTech is going to have information about the contract and what they offered. They probably already have papers drawn up to negotiate with you as well. I'm thinking a little snooping around after dark is in order. And you're not going to be a help if you're half asleep."  
  
"Don't let me sleep long," he said softly, his eyes closing. It wasn't unusual for him to take a nap in the afternoon if we were going to have a late night. Well, late for him anyways. It was hard on him at first to admit that he couldn't keep the hours that I do, but then he finally accepted it and wasn't embarrassed by the fact he needed the sleep that I didn't.  
  
I touched his lips with mine, trailing a finger across the stubble on his cheek. "I won't leave without you," I promised. That was one that I couldn't break even if I wanted to. Justin was there to find out who killed his uncle. I was there to make sure he was kept safe. I wasn't worried about anything happening to him though once I thought about it. Anyone coming after him was going to have to go through me first, and I was a hell of a lot harder to kill than anything else they had ever encountered. But he was already asleep.  
  
Important thing to know about Seattle. Even at fleabag motels pizza is deliverable. I hadn't thought about food since the moment I hung up the phone in LA, and now, I was starving. They took cash and a fake name for it to be delivered to and all was well. It was still even hot. This was pleasing to me. Even more pleasing was this laptop Justin picked up. Sweet deal. Cellular modems were officially the way to go now. His bill was going to be astronomical, but he didn't have to worry about that now.  
  
I spent plenty of time doing my homework on BioTech and learning as much as I could about their Seattle office. Their research division was in Iowa, but they had a sales and administrative office here in Seattle. From what I gathered, their fearless leader was still here in Seattle. He was going after MedGen personally. Four years before, BioTech had been interested in them, but they blew off that attempt easily. Now they were in a bad situation, and the sharks were circling. They had no idea how bad of a situation they were in with me and Justin going for blood now.  
  
There were a lot of people out on the streets, but that wasn't exactly a comfort to me. The best assassins hid in plain sight. Nobody was hanging around though, or coming back around in a pattern. Groups were coming and going, but it was all different people. Maybe Justin had really lost them for a while, and they were still trolling. They probably assumed he took off to LA. They might be watching at the airport to see if he came in on a flight. Maybe it was a good thing we didn't go back. Doing the obvious was not always the brightest idea.  
  
While I was working, Steiner e-mailed Justin back and told him that he knew there was some incident at the hotel last night, and he was glad to hear that Justin was okay. MedGen was suspicious on why he suspended the out of court settlement all of a sudden, but he could handle them. He wanted to know if Justin was going to make the scheduled meetings that day. I didn't think Justin would mind terribly when I sent back a reply stating that the meetings were to be cancelled until further notice. There were other things that needed to be worried about first. I went back to my research, gathering all the information I could get to get us into that office tonight. If MedGen was worried now, they were going to be huddled in a corner whimpering come dawn.  
  
Justin  
  
It was late afternoon when I finally woke up. I guess I was more tired than I had thought. Jhondie was sitting in the window again, the curtains almost completely closed. She was curled in this compact little package just watching the street. One leg was dangling, and swinging slowly back and forth. I knew it wasn't intentional, but sometimes it's so obvious she has cat genes it's not funny. I could easily see a cat curled up in a window with its tail swinging.  
  
"Hey," I said, sitting up and stretching. As much as I hated to admit it, I needed that sleep. I was feeling much better at least. Jhondie looked over at me, her cold, serious expression melting away with a smile when she saw I was awake. She slid out of the window and came over, sitting down beside me.  
  
"Feel better?" she asked, leaning her head on my shoulder. For all she claimed that she didn't need sleep, I knew better. Her body didn't require it, but when she was under a lot of stress, her mind did. Maybe it was simply knowing her so well, but I could tell that she was tired too and needed some time to rest before we went out that night.  
  
"Much," I replied, wrapping my arms around her and holding her against me. I was almost expecting her to try and pull away, but instead she curled up as tight as she could against me. She didn't say anything as I stroked her hair and back and held tightly to her. I thought she might be going to sleep until I felt her start trembling in my arms.  
  
"I was so scared," she whispered so softly I almost couldn't hear her. "I wouldn't let myself feel it or I was going to panic and go crazy, but God, Justin, I was so terrified that…that…"  
  
She couldn't finish, and I understood. The thought of her getting hurt made my stomach turn. "I'm okay, love," I murmured into her hair. I wasn't going to tell her how close it was. For a second there, I knew I was dead. "I'm sorry you were scared. It's okay now." I tilted her chin so that she was looking up and kissed her softly.  
  
I wasn't trying to incite something. I had just wanted to reassure her. But neither of us was letting the other go as that kiss lasted and lasted. We sank back to the bed, limbs starting to intertwine, gently caressing each other. The last time we had been this close, it was more of a frantic need for release, but this was so different, more trying to comfort each other. I had to admit, last night scared the hell out of me too.  
  
"Need to keep watch," she protested weakly, but still let me slide her shirt over her head. My lips trailed down her neck, turning her words into a soft moan. Her protest might have been taken more seriously had she not been undoing the buttons on my shirt and running her hands under it and over my bare skin. Our lips met again, and there was no stopping now. It was more than just wanting her. I needed her.  
  
I slipped her bra straps down her arm and then reached under her to unsnap it, exposing her to me. God, she was beautiful. Our eyes met as I caressed her breast, my thumb teasing the coral peak to hardness. "I love you," she whispered, and then pulled me back to her for another passionate kiss.  
  
I was never sure exactly how or when we both got completely undressed. I vaguely remember a flash of white, and I assumed that was my shirt being pulled over my head, but who can really be sure. What I knew for certain was that my hands and lips were running all over her bare skin and the more she touched me, the harder it was getting to breathe. "Te amo carina," I murmured into her ear, catching the lobe in my teeth, making her gasp. Words were more of an aphrodisiac to Jhondie than anything else. "There is nothing that can take me from you. You and I were meant to be together…para siempre, mi amor."  
  
"Oh yes, Justin," she gasped out. "Yo deseo contigo para siempre. I…ooooooh." Her words trailed off into a low moan as my fingers dipped lower, touching the most sensitive spots of her body. Her fingers tightened on my shoulder and back, head thrown back in erotic abandon.  
  
I knew at that point that this was not going to go on much longer. Her eyes opened, and for a moment she looked feral with absolute desire. "I need you inside me now love," she gasped. Like I was going to refuse that little request.  
  
I suppose there might be something in mortal existence that could compare to what it felt like when Jhondie and I made love, but I seriously doubted it. Granted, sometimes it was mostly physical and just having fun, but there were moments like this when it almost felt like there weren't two separate people anymore. It was beyond mere pleasure. There were no words. Maybe it had something to do with such a close brush with death mere hours before, I didn't know, and I didn't care. The only thing I cared about was what she was doing to me, and how much I wanted to return it to her.  
  
"Justin!" she cried out suddenly, and then I felt her climaxing, her entire body contracting almost violently. There wasn't any holding back then. The world seemed to explode in a white-hot flash all around us, and then we were both collapsed back onto the bed, panting with exertion, clinging to each other.  
  
I wasn't sure how long we lay together, our bodies completely intertwined. Okay, that wasn't planned, but I sure as hell wasn't going to complain. It was actually pretty good for clearing the head. Jhondie tucked herself against me, and was lying quietly, eyes closed, body limp. She looked so young sometimes when she was perfectly relaxed. It was hard to catch her at times like this, but worth the effort. I could watch her sleep for hours.  
  
Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled. "What are you looking at?" she teased lightly.  
  
The first two words that came to mind startled me. She wasn't that at all. But it wasn't hard to think of her like that. Not at all. This wasn't the time or place to even think about going there, but there was little doubt in my mind how we were going to end up.  
  
"Just wondering when you were going to get up so we can move out," I replied lightly. She playfully punched me.  
  
"You're the one that got started on me," she accused.  
  
"You're the one that could have stopped me," I countered. I kissed the tip of her nose. "And I bet whoever has the room next door knows how much you didn't want me to stop." She blushed bright pink. There wasn't much I could say that would embarrass her, but reminding her about how loud she could get would do it every time. "I'd give them another thrill, but we've got work to do," I reminded her. As much as I would love to stay there with her, there was some things slightly more important right then.  
  
"I know," she replied. She leaned up and kissed me. "You know we're going to win, don't you?" she asked. "One way or the other, they're going to get what they deserve."  
  
No, I didn't know. I wanted to believe it, but I knew how the system worked. I wasn't ready to give up by a long shot though. Our eyes met, and I realized what she was saying. I was at a total loss for words as it sank into me. Once upon a time, she wasn't willing to kill to revenge herself. She was for me.  
  
"They're going to get what they deserve in jail," I finally said. She gave me a half smile. The offer was still there. All I had to do was say the word. Daily and Winters would never know how much they owed to me right then. It could have all been over by the next morning. At least, that's what I thought.  
  
"In that case, let's get started," she said, getting out of bed, and loading up some images onto the laptop. The intimate moment from before was spent, and we both started focusing on the night that was to come. 


	12. BioTech

Jhondie  
  
I was well aware that Justin wasn't exactly thrilled that I was in Seattle. I knew he was worried about me getting between him and a bullet to save his life, but he should have known me better by then. I would just prevent the first shot from being fired at all. And there was something else too. I wasn't sure what it was exactly, but there was something else that Justin was worried about with me. It was hard to explain, but I just felt like there was something that he flat out was not telling me. There wasn't enough time to get it out of him though. It couldn't be anything that would be dangerous to us though, I knew that. We had been partners for too long for either of us to hide something that serious from the other.  
  
I wasn't too worried about BioTech security. Justin and I had done these things enough that I wasn't worried about him. Unknown security systems were always a risk factor, but I had yet to find one that was designed to keep the likes of me out of it. Dealing with Seattle sector cops when we were out past curfew was more of a worry. We would manage. There were a lot of things that were wild variables in this, but we were just going to have to deal with them. I didn't like going into this with so many uncertainties, but I wasn't about to let Justin go on his own.  
  
We waited until it was past midnight before heading off into the night. It turned out that Justin might not have needed that nap after all. There was a little restaurant near the motel, and it served coffee so strong that it almost jumped out of the cup and slapped me around. I had two cups. We were young, strong, and wired up on enough caffeine to power a small town for a week. BioTech security didn't stand a chance.  
  
Getting there wasn't the problem that I thought it might be. There were still clubs open and bars and people were out drinking and having a good time. Once we got into the business sector there weren't that many people around. Less chance of being noticed, but cops might want to talk to someone lurking about here more than someone stumbling out of a club. There was still the make-out thing that worked. You just grabbed each other and acted like you wanted a quiet place for an al fresco quickie, and cops just told you to take it to a motel.  
  
The office was on the second floor of an office building. I was so glad to see it wasn't a high rise. Those were much more of a pain to break into. Small offices like this had windows that opened. You still had to be careful though, and not get fooled that the rent-a-cop sitting behind the desk eating a doughnut was the security there. If BioTech had an inkling about how bad MedGen was going to get to protect themselves, then they were definitely going to have some top-notch security in here.  
  
From a distance, I could tell that there weren't any cameras on the outside, but I was willing to bet there were plenty indoors. This had to be kept quiet. If Justin got caught and had to explain to BioTech why he was there, they would use it ruthlessly to their own goals, and not the more important one of Justin not dying. It didn't matter to them who owned the patents. If MedGen got them by default, then they would win anyways when they took over the company. It was better to get what we needed quietly for now.  
  
We had done a little research and found out another company that was in the building, and who owned it. There was a payphone across the street, and Justin called the security guard at the front desk. "This is Mike Hartman from Stellar Ideas on the fourth floor," he said. "I just got a page from my security system that said there was a problem, but I haven't heard anything from you. Is everything okay?" He waited a moment, listening. "Hmm…that's odd. Actually, this did happen once before because the door wasn't shut all the way, and the air from the air conditioning moved it. Would you mind double checking?" Another pause. "Yes, but it's on sensitive. A tiny move is enough."  
  
I could hear the guard over the phone getting belligerent. He said something about being able to see the door on the cameras and it was closed. I was willing to bet there was some nudie show coming on TV next and he didn't want to miss a minute of it. "Exactly what are you getting paid for?" Justin snapped arrogantly. "As a matter of fact, I am going to head down there myself right now. If I so much as see a magazine open, then I'm reporting you, and you'll get to join the unemployment lines." There was another pause and Justin grinned. "That will do. As a matter of fact, I'll hold while you go check. And is that a TV I hear in the background?"  
  
From where I was, I could see the guard get up and go to the elevator. He stepped in, and I darted across the street, and to the front door. The lock was picked in a matter of seconds, and I was at the front security desk. All I wanted to do was loop the video feeds so that they showed everything being quiet. Since BioTech was on the side of the building, it would be much easier to go through a window rather than the door. Window security on higher floors was weaker. In a matter of a couple of minutes, I had gotten the video to loop, made sure the clock would continue to show proper time, and erased the footage of me coming into the building. I darted back out, making sure to relock the doors, and was across the street as the guard came back to his desk.  
  
"Why, thank you," Justin practically sneered. "I suppose I will have to call the alarm company in the morning." He hung up the phone. "All clear?"  
  
"You know it." Like he had to ask.  
  
We slid around the side of the building, directly under BioTech's windows. There was a ledge about twelve feet up, right under the window. There was a dumpster in the alley, and we went to the side of it. It was better that only one of us get on it since that kind of noise might be noticed. Justin and I had developed the technique since we had started to work together, and it was pretty good if I do say so myself. He laced his fingers together to make a foot hold for me, and I used it to springboard myself up, his added push and height easily giving me the clearance to the ledge. Justin then climbed up on the dumpster as quietly as one can climb up on one of those things, and then jumped up, his arm outstretched. I caught him easily and then we were both on the ledge. I think it annoyed him a bit that I could move so confidently on a narrow outcropping of brick, but he never said anything about it.  
  
I moved to the window, and worked the security system. It didn't take long. I hadn't noticed until later that I had packed all of my essentials, and right then I was glad I had them. I probably wouldn't have been able to get in easily without them. As a matter of fact, we would have had to use the more direct method of leaving the guard tied up and unconscious in a closet. I didn't like the fact that I had run on a total Manticore- inspired form of autopilot, but it had helped out just a little. I slid open the window. All quiet. I shot Justin a grin and we slipped inside of the building.  
  
We went straight to Brink's office. For something like this, even Justin had to agree that the secretary wouldn't know a thing about it. His door was locked, but that took a matter of four seconds after I double-checked and made sure there wasn't a secondary alarm there. Sometimes I wonder if a lack of security was just a sign of total arrogance that they think they are that invulnerable, but then I have to stop and remind myself that nobody is expecting the likes of me to break into a place. To even BioTech and MedGen, transgenics were still science fiction.  
  
Justin had learned quite a bit about picking locks since we had hooked up, and he went after the filing cabinet and Brink's desk. I started looking around for a safe that might have more sensitive documents in it. If both of those avenues failed, then we were going to have to go to his computer. I hoped he would have hard copies of documents in here somewhere. Computers were more of a pain than picking locks. Actually, we probably would have just snatched the hard drive out of the PC and taken it back to pick apart at our leisure. That was worse case scenario. First things were first. There were a couple of pictures on the wall, but nothing was behind them. I blew out a breath of annoyance. I was going to find one if it was there. Why make it more difficult for me?  
  
I might not have noticed had a cop not driven by, lights and sirens blazing. Justin and I both hit the floor simultaneously, both of us absolutely shocked. In all this time, the police had never once nailed us. I went to go make for the window, but Justin grabbed my arm. 'Listen' he mouthed, and then I realized what he was saying. The sound was changing pitch; Doppler effect showing that the car was moving away from the building. We both breathed a sigh of relief, and that's when I noticed.  
  
There was a large mirror inset into the wall. The flashing lights were getting more distant, but they winked off of the mirror several times. But it wasn't right. The flash off of the glass was angled slightly as if it wasn't level. The naked eye wouldn't have noticed probably, but my vision was more than up to the task. I scanned the side of the glass, the enhanced vision suddenly picking up tiny hinges in the side. I grinned. Justin was back at the filing cabinet, poking through paperwork, and I went to work on finding the spring for the mirror.  
  
The sound of the cabinet drawer opening and closing caught my attention. I looked up, annoyed at being interrupted. It sort of ruined the moment of triumph as the mirror swung open, revealing a safe behind it. Justin noticed me staring at him, and waved me over. This had so better be good. It was. Should have guessed. He wouldn't be the one getting caught doing something dumb.  
  
"The drawers are too short," he whispered. He opened one again all the way, and I caught what he was saying. They should be longer for the length of the cabinet. Noiselessly, we worked together and turned it a little so that we could get to the back. Justin wiggled behind it and started to work on finding out where the missing space was. I would have done it, probably more efficiently at that, but sometimes he was so impossible to reason with. Of course, he didn't bother to mention to me right then that this was something he had seen once before. Denise's mother had something similar, and Denise had shown Justin how it worked once. Maybe it was smart of him not to mention that just then. I still had a hard time hearing that name and not immediately start yelling and cursing.  
  
I went back to work on the safe. It was a tricky one, but not too terribly difficult. I'd cracked tougher babies than this before. The door opened, and I smirked. There was a rack of files in there all nice and neat, just waiting for me. I slid them out, and started flipping through them rapidly, looking for anything that might be pertinent to our situation. I glanced over at Justin, and did a double take when I saw him flipping slowly through a handful of folders. Overachiever.  
  
A file caught my attention, and I slowed down to look at it. Most of the other files had the names of companies on it, and I had caught a glimpse of a few things on the inside. It had nothing to do with stock prices in there. One was a picture of an older man with a girl that could not be a day over thirteen. I had a feeling that I was seeing how BioTech convinced people to sell so easily. MedGen must have been a shock to their system. But, the file that interested me simply said JAC on the tab.  
  
I opened it, and there was a copy of the contract right there. Bingo. Being brilliant was nothing short of a gift. It was thick, and I flipped through the pages. There was nothing highlighted or underlined to state that there was a way out early. The only thing that had any form of notation was the death clause and the twenty-five year ending date. I flipped past the contract to the other things in the file. There was a picture of Justin's uncle there, and a paper with several chemical formulas on it. I looked over the formulas and felt the blood drain out of my head.  
  
I don't sleep. That gives me hours to do things extra. I used to study languages. Once I got into college and decided to go pre-med, I started studying things that would be needed for my future career. Chemistry, physiology, how to look good in white, I absorbed it all. Lately, I had been studying different drugs and their interactions. What I was reading on this sheet made my blood turn cold.  
  
It was chemical formulas for different drugs. Some I wasn't sure about. But I easily recognized the one that stood out the most. It was something I had recently read in a medical journal about drugs that were in development. It was to be used as a more natural way to stop the heart during open-heart surgery. The theory is that if the body doesn't have to deal with a foreign chemical to overcome before the heart would begin beating again, then it would do so more easily and keep beating. Good theory. As a matter of fact, in clinical tests, it actually produced the symptoms of a heart attack.  
  
They were about to take over MedGen, but the fight might extend out a couple more years.  
  
Justin's uncle could take the patents away, negating the whole investment and cost of the fight just as they get control over MedGen.  
  
The death clause was underlined.  
  
He died of a heart attack.  
  
"Oh my God." I didn't say that. I looked up quickly, trying to figure out how to tell Justin what was going on. He was wide-eyed, staring at the papers in front of him. He looked at me sharply. "Does the name Jim McGinnis ring a bell to you? Think way back."  
  
A single flash of memory.  
  
A tall, distinguished-looking black man walking beside Lydecker while we were all standing in formation. They walk off a bit, but I'm at the end and can still hear their conversation. He smiles at Lydecker. "The committee is going to be pleased with their progress." Lydecker doesn't smile, but seems pleased. "Three years, tops, Jim" Lydecker says. "Then they'll be ready for field work. That's two years sooner than projected. How does that sound for funding for stage three?" Jim sounds thoughtful. "If the X-6 are ready that fast as well, then you can count on full funding then."  
  
"Jhon?" Justin's voice snapped me back to the present. I blinked, trying to absorb it all. How did he know that name, unless…  
  
"He's with Manticore," I whisper. Our next words both came out together in a rush.  
  
"We've got a big problem here." 


	13. Waterworks

Justin  
  
Describing BioTech as a problem for us was like describing The Pulse as a computer glitch. Understatement just didn't come close. I wasn't too sure what this paperwork was saying, but it was evident that they were heavily involved with Manticore somewhere along the line. It was a good thing that Zack wasn't around. If he knew that I had just walked Jhondie into the middle of an organization that supplied Manticore, chances were that I would be dead before I hit the ground. From his point of view, I wouldn't be able to blame the guy.  
  
"Makes sense they would be dealing with Manticore," Jhondie muttered, and then pushed the folder in her hand under my nose. "Just nobody mentions me when this comes out."  
  
I took the papers and looked over them, while she started flipping through what I had. It was not fair that she was covering half a dozen pages to my one. The contract, a picture of Uncle Justin, and some chemical formulas. This would probably be more ominous if I had any idea what the hell the formulas were for. But when I saw the highlighting on the contract, and put it with Jhondie's concern, I started getting a very, very bad feeling as to what those formulas were. This entire time, the one thing that kept nagging at me was that MedGen had no reason to kill my uncle for another four years. This was a crazy, risky maneuver. And now I started to think, what if it wasn't their move after all?  
  
Jhondie was looking at me when I looked back up. "This one," she said tonelessly, lightly tapping one of the formulas "is a clear liquid that's odorless and tasteless. The drug causes a reaction similar to a heart attack."  
  
All I could see for a moment was my uncle's gym bag. He had been playing racquetball earlier on the day he died. Wendy hadn't been able to empty it. Dad did it for her. He had poured out about an inch of water from a bottle. Bags being left in the open. Lots of people. It wouldn't be anything to dump in some chemicals and walk away.  
  
"And now it would be real suspicious if the new owner of the patents dropped dead of a heart attack since he's only twenty-one," I said.  
  
"So they have to send gunmen since you're not cooperating," Jhondie finished for me.  
  
I nodded, things starting to fall into place in my head. "They want those patents bad. MedGen is staying just a hair out of reach. They have to be careful since they're dealing with things like Manticore who do not like publicity. If they set up MedGen…"  
  
"Then the bad press is going to fall on them," Jhondie said, picking up on my train of thought. "And the stock prices drop like a rock."  
  
"Even better," I countered, realizing the train of events. "They have some heavy government contacts obviously. The government seizes MedGen and then gives it to BioTech since it's going to help them supply Manticore better then. The contract was legal. MedGen would get the patents, and it would just be the CEO and President that ended up in prison for murder."  
  
"But why did they make your uncle seem like a heart attack?" Jhondie asked, perplexed. She was looking over my shoulder. "It doesn't make sense if it was to be big news to do it so quietly."  
  
I thought about it. She was right. I looked back at the contract, and noticed something. I had seen a copy of this thing a million times. Maybe that's why I noticed what Jhondie didn't despite her visual acuities. There was a line under the name Justin A. Carter. And then the final piece fell into place. "They knew," I said quickly. "They knew who really owned the patents. Kill Uncle Justin. That gets MedGen hysterical when it comes out that they weren't getting the patents. I suddenly get killed and then all eyes fall on MedGen. Prices fall, and they win. Son of a bitch."  
  
Jhondie blinked, thinking about it. "If they're working with Manticore, then this has got to happen fast. The longer this takes, the more chance there is for exposure, and they do not want to get Manticore upset with them. Not with their group of assassins hanging around. There's no better incentive than that." She paused for a long moment. "You're proving to be very difficult to kill. Time is short. They have to go to a backup plan. Your family is in LA. That's too far away to be a commotion here. Who would be the equivalent of a warning shot?"  
  
A warning shot? Actually, I wasn't the one doing the legal fighting and maneuvering.  
  
Steiner was.  
  
  
  
Jhondie  
  
There seemed something so morally wrong with trying to save a lawyer's life. Granted, Justin liked Steiner, and said he was a good guy, but still it was hard to get over that whole ingrained thing that he's a lawyer. He needs to be eliminated. But that would be wrong. Screw doing the right thing for once. Manticore was involved and Justin was in danger. Getting the hell out of Seattle seemed like the best bet to me. But this was Justin on a crusade. There was no talking sense to him when he was in crusade mode. I didn't mind doing some crusading, but only when we could remain anonymous. Whatever. I was in it just as much as he was now. And we took the incriminating files with us. By morning, BioTech was going to be after Justin with a vengeance. Time was not on our side with this one.  
  
We went to the second closest payphone that we could find, the absolute closest being the one that Justin had called from to get the guard to leave his desk, and it would have been a bad idea to keep hanging around the building, and Justin called Steiner. I could see from the frustration on his face that there wasn't anyone answering. Justin slammed down the phone.  
  
"He's either a hard sleeper or dead already," he snarled. In a conversation with Steiner earlier, he had mentioned keeping water beside his bed if he got thirsty at night. I didn't ask how that came up, but I knew that was what Justin was worried about the most.  
  
"Do you know where he lives?" I asked.  
  
Justin nodded. "Yeah, but it's too far to walk. If he's sleeping, we won't get there before morning." I grinned. I bet he was thinking that transportation was going to be a problem.  
  
"Come on," I said, thinking about the bar we had passed a little while ago. Chances were there were people there with cars, and they would be too drunk to figure out for a while that it was missing. With a little luck, we might even be able to return it before the owner could figure out that it had been borrowed.  
  
"Since when did you learn how to hotwire cars?" Justin asked a little suspiciously once he realized what my intentions were. I scanned the parking lot. Near the end was what appeared to be a pretty good target.  
  
"Since Dad took my car keys and tried to ground me when I was sixteen," I replied as we got to the car. I took a glance around. It was clear enough, and I slammed my elbow into the glass, shattering the back window. "Hotwiring and rewiring a security system is pretty much the same thing in concept." Justin seemed a little bemused at that, but he didn't complain about the fact that a minute later, the engine rumbled to life.  
  
It still took almost twenty minutes to get to Steiner's place, and I was sure I was going to have to gag Justin by the time we got there. He was way more than impatient, and we had to be nice to the Sector Police when going through checkpoints. LA had city entry checkpoints, but once you were in the city, you were in. This stopping and waiting for entry was a bunch of crap, but we had to play it cool. At least I was trying to. Justin was glaring at them and showing his frustration. This was not a situation where you could show yourself to the enemy. Just for a second there I wished that Justin had some kind of training like mine so that he would know how to act.  
  
I stopped the car several blocks from the house, and pulled over to the side. Justin shot me a questioning look. "BioTech probably has someone watching the house," I explained. "You're still the number one target, remember? Chances of you showing up there are rather high." Justin was still focused on finding out what had happened and bringing the killers to justice. My priority was protecting him. It was rare that we had such different priorities when we were out like this, but this time he was going to have to deal with me being more of a bodyguard than a partner.  
  
"Okay," he said quietly. "We had to stop by his house the other day, and he forgot his key. He had to get a spare from one of those fake rocks in the backyard."  
  
I nodded. Much less intrusive then pounding on the front door. We got out of the car, and I looked around, all senses on high alert. It was still quiet. I wasn't about to relax for a second though. Anyone that approached us was going to get the crap kicked out of them, no questions asked. I trusted Justin and myself. Everyone else in this city was suspect.  
  
I hated having to creep through backyards, but there wasn't much of a choice. We were going to have to hope that nobody was awake enough to notice us in the shadows of the fences between the yards. There was a moment when a dog in an adjoining yard started barking violently, jumping against the fence and scratching at it. Justin grinned at me wryly. I wrinkled my nose back at him. Wasn't my fault dogs didn't like me. We moved out quickly, not wanting anyone to get up to find out why the mutt was howling.  
  
We finally slipped over the last fence and landed in Steiner's back yard. I looked around carefully before standing up and signaling Justin to come over the fence. Was it quiet because it was two in the morning, or were there assassins setting their mark? I couldn't see anything suspect, but I knew I would feel better once we were out of the open. Justin slid over the fence and came up beside me.  
  
"It's one of the ones by the steps," Justin whispered. We knelt down and started flipping over the rocks, looking for the fake. It was a little annoying that Justin didn't know exactly which one it was, but I couldn't really blame him. Things did tend to look differently at night then they did during the day. At least, that's what I had been told.  
  
Justin picked up a rock, flipping it over, and then grinned. "Got it," he said, pulling out a key from beneath it. Light suddenly spilled into the backyard from the upstairs window. We both looked up sharply, instinctively getting lower to the ground until we realized that it was a light from inside of the house. Our eyes met sharply.  
  
Water beside the bed.  
  
That so better not be his daughter's boyfriend sneaking out.  
  
There was a small overhand over the backdoor, and I didn't hesitate. I jumped up on it in a smooth motion, and then leapt again, grabbing the edge of the roof. I swung back, and then drove forward, crashing through the window. I had a moment to take in the view. Some guy was sitting up in bed, with the reading lamp on, holding a glass of water. A woman was struggling with a sleep mask beside him. Water. Water in hand.  
  
"Don't drink it!" I screaming, diving across the room, and yanking the glass out of his hand. God, that was too close. "Let's just pretend we're in Mexico, okay," I said in almost a conversational tone. "Whatever you do, don't drink the water." 


	14. To Explain

Justin  
  
"I…I just can't believe this," Steiner stuttered, looking over the file that BioTech had on my uncle and the contract. We hadn't shown him the stuff on Manticore. That was still on a very need to know basis. And Jhondie thought I wasn't up on being all military-like. He looked at the pitcher of water on the dining room table, and then back at me. "Do you really think that chemical is in my water?"  
  
"I don't know for sure," I replied. "But what we do know is that they need someone else to die, and they missed me earlier. My family isn't here. You're the next logical choice."  
  
"Didn't you say your uncle had a partner?" Jhondie piped up from the kitchen counter. Mrs. Steiner had brought her a first aid kit and she was bandaging up a cut on her arm. She had gone through the window feet first but a few stray pieces of glass had managed to scratch her up.  
  
"Yeah, Winston somebody," I replied.  
  
"A Dr. Winston Post," Steiner added. So that was his last name  
  
"He's a likely target as well. Not as much since BioTech is going to need a least one person to keep the research going." She perked up a bit. "I'm willing to bet he could run a test on that water and see what was in it."  
  
Steiner gave Jhondie an odd look. I couldn't blame him. A half-hour before, he had woken up and went to take a drink of water, and then some girl comes crashing through his window, snatching it from him. A few seconds later, his favorite client flies through the door of his bedroom, and then the wife has hysterics. Good times for all. She was screaming, and I was trying to yell over her to ask Jhondie if he had drunk any of the water. She shrugged. Steiner was trying to calm down his wife, and question me at the same time. We were so lucky nobody called the cops.  
  
"Gina!" Steiner yelled, "This is my client! Remember, Justin's nephew?" The volume lowered to hitching breaths and she looked over at Jhondie who was trying to be polite and not bleed on their carpet. Steiner looked at Jhondie, and then at me.  
  
"That's my girlfriend," I said quickly, "And I know this isn't exactly how clients are supposed to get a hold of you, but I think someone may have poisoned your water since they couldn't kill me yesterday." Steiner's jaw landed on his chest and Mrs. Steiner went so pale I thought she was going to pass out. Jhondie shot me a look of "smooth explanation there, buddy" that I promptly ignored.  
  
"What?" Steiner gasped, trying to regain the ability to speak. "Who?" He paused for a second. "MedGen?"  
  
"I don't think so," I replied honestly. "It's kind of a long story."  
  
So then there we were in the kitchen after explaining what we had discovered. Jhondie finished with her arm and came over and sat down beside me. Mrs. Steiner brought in coffee and then sat down beside her husband. They were both still giving Jhon a weird look. She was trying to look non-threatening, but she wasn't very good at it.  
  
"What made you even look at BioTech?" Steiner asked. His eyes narrowed when Jhondie and I shared a nervous glance. She gave me a tiny nod to let me know that she was willing to trust my judgment on what to say. She knew I would only say what had to be said.  
  
"Listen," I said, "this is something that my father doesn't even know." That got his attention. "I know up here you have to know who Eye's Only is. He's got people in the Informant Net all over the place. In LA, it's us."  
  
Steiner's eyebrows nearly shot up to his receding hairline. "I wasn't aware you were that…dedicated to your profession. He gave you information that made you break into BioTech?"  
  
It was easier to not explain the process of thinking that led up to it. "Basically, it got us pointed there," I replied. "The rest you know."   
  
"And you just casually broke into their office?"  
  
"It wasn't quite casual," Jhondie said. She gave him a sheepish grin. "See, I used to be one of those bad kids that you probably forbade your kids from hanging around with when I was a kid. I hung out with a lot of future career criminals, and I picked up a lot about breaking and entering. Luckily, I got away from it all when I got older, but I still remember how to do it. Only for good causes now though." They seemed to accept that explanation. Besides, we were from LA. By reputation, if we weren't beach bunnies, then we had to be crazed punks as teenagers. They were probably picturing her with piercings and tattoos.   
  
"You pick up a lot working for Eye's Only anyways," I added. "Like she said, it's all for a higher purpose. In any case, can you get Winston and get him to MedGen's lab ASAP?"  
  
"I'll call him first thing in the morning," Steiner said, still sounding slightly dazed. He was a great lawyer, but this was all way over his realm of expertise. It was kind of funny that a couple of years ago, I would have been just as dazed. Amazing what you can get used to as being "ordinary".   
  
Jhondie got up and went over to the window, brushing the curtain to the side as little as possible, but enough to see out. They were again confused by her, but I knew exactly what she was doing. A second later she glanced back at me. "Good thing we came through the back." She sat back down heavily. "Probably have the phones under surveillance as well."  
  
Mrs. Steiner looked sick. "Someone is out there? Watching my house?"   
  
"They're probably just waiting to see if there's a call to emergency services," Jhondie said soothingly. "Unless they didn't poison the water. Then it's just to see if Justin shows up here so they can kill him easier." That wasn't quite as soothing to hear no matter how she said it. It hit me suddenly. Nobody knew Jhondie was here. I looked at her with an eyebrow raised in question. It was great to have a partner that I didn't even have to use words to communicate with. She shot me an answering smile.  
  
"Use a cell and call Winston now," I said to Steiner. "Let him know that he's probably next on the list if he doesn't want to help out now."   
  
"What are you going to do?" he asked, as Jhondie and I stood up.  
  
I grinned. "Exactly what they were hoping to see me do." 


	15. Unwelcome Guests

Jhondie  
  
There is a very big plus to being female. Men do not see you as a threat. Some might, but if there's a man with you, they are going to take care of him first. It's not that I really need that advantage of surprise, but it still is nice to use, and use ruthlessly. Maybe that's why Manticore bred up girls along with the guys. Who would possibly suspect a young woman of being able to jump a fifteen-foot wall, take out three or four linebackers and then assassinate the target, all without breaking a nail? True, I wasn't heading for an assassination, but the point was still the same.  
  
Justin and I went out the back and separated, each of us heading in the opposite direction. I was positive that there was only the two of them out there watching the house. They were sitting in a car, half a block down. Probably had binoculars and a laptop in the front seat and hamburger wrappers in the back. And we can't forget the dark shades because we all know how cool guys like that really are. The sad part was that they had no idea they had been made. But they weren't used to dealing with girls like me that could casually use telescopic vision. Easy marks. This was almost embarrassing.  
  
Justin went further down than I did and then jumped over into the street. From where I was perched, I could see inside the mark's car easily. Both of them straightened up, one pointing him out. Both of them then slid down slightly so that he wouldn't notice them. Who the hell taught these guys proper surveillance? Pitiful really. If you're going to be ruthless and evil, go all out. Don't screw around with it. You break into the neighbors across the street and either kill or subdue them and use their house as the base of operations. The surveillance equipment could have been set up so that even I couldn't see it then.  
  
Both of them were very intent on watching Justin. I might have waited another minute, but I saw one of them reach under the seat. I didn't know if it was for a fry that escaped or a gun, but I wasn't going to take the chance. I jumped over the fence, attracting both of their attention just for a second. I turned around, and blew a kiss up towards the second story. Just another girl with a clandestine meeting with her lover. I turned back around, smiling blissfully and practically floating down the sidewalk. They both relaxed a little and focused back on Justin. Girls are never dangerous. Everyone knows that.  
  
I walked past the car, catching everything I needed to see in my peripheral vision. They had the laptop, and the driver was getting out a gun and screwing on the silencer. He slipped it under a newspaper as I walked by, but he wasn't quick enough. Maybe he was expecting the darkness inside the car to cover for him. I wondered for a moment how it would be to do things like this without my enhanced abilities. Oh well. Not like I was ever going to know.  
  
What I did know was the second that the driver cracked the door open. Time for action. I whipped around with every bit of speed that I could muster. Driver managed to get his left arm and foot out of the door before I crossed the distance between us, grabbing his arm and the car door. If I had the time, I would have laughed myself sick from the look of shock on his face. I slammed the door hard, hearing the bones cracking in his arm and leg. I yanked the door back open, half-dragging him out with it and then punching him in the face hard. He slumped back into his seat, out cold.  
  
Partner had been frozen with shock for a moment. He had the weirdest look…like maybe he had seen this before. This kind of movement and speed and strength. Maybe he had been to Manticore before and seen the X-6 in action. That thought actually saved both of their lives. If BioTech thought Manticore didn't want Justin dead, then they were going to back off very, very quickly, and these two witnesses needed to go back and tell the tale in order to make that happen. It didn't mean he was going to get away without any bruises though.  
  
I let go of the driver, and vaulted over the car in an eye blink. The passenger was actually smart and tried to jump out through the driver's side door rather than attempt to take me on, but he wasn't able to move faster than me. That was just not a possibility, especially considering how keyed-up I was. Instead of running, he grabbed the gun from his unconscious partner, and whipped it around, firing twice. A little faster, and I might have been in trouble. I saw the glint of steel as the gun came up and jumped, landing on the roof of the car.  
  
He was so intent on me, he didn't notice my partner who had sprinted up to us when he saw me go after the first guy. Justin dove into the front seat and I couldn't get off of the roof before it was over. Passenger was out for the count as well.  
  
I hopped off the roof. "You okay?" he asked.  
  
I nodded. "You?"  
  
He grinned. "He was so busy looking up, he didn't notice me come in from the side." I grinned back, and we ran back over to Steiner's. I hoped they didn't see that little bout. I was already tired of explaining things to people and I knew that Dr. Post was going to be asking a hell of a lot of questions once we saw him.  
  
Steiner opened the door as soon as we came up. He glanced down at the car and then back at us, not sure what to say or do. "They're out for now," Justin said quickly. "But we better get moving fast. I have a feeling that we better have this resolved by morning if we all want to come out of this alive."  
  
"Dr. Post agreed to meet us at MedGen," Steiner said. "I told him your suspicions and he's quite worried now about himself."  
  
"He should be," I muttered. If BioTech was involved with Manticore, then what if they were the ones pushing for the MedGen take over for some odd reason? I was not feeling well at the thought of taking on an X-6 and seeing what would happen. It wouldn't make sense for Manticore to be pushing for something that could become publicly explosive, but who knew what those people were planning.  
  
Steiner was looking at me oddly again. "They had guns," I said gesturing towards the car. "If the whole poison thing isn't going to work, then they're going to start shooting real soon. And it's not just going to be Justin then."  
  
"I'm bringing my wife with us," Steiner said curtly, and then went back inside. We followed and stayed in the kitchen for a minute while they threw on some clothes and got ready to leave.  
  
"Be careful what you say," Justin whispered to me. I was about to give him a scathing retort, but he was concerned, not lecturing. "Steiner is already thinking that you're a little odd. If Manticore comes out, then it's not going to take much to put things together."  
  
"I know how to be careful," I replied in a low voice. I had a lot of years of practicing with blending in under my belt.  
  
"I know you do," he replied calmly. "But you're acting like a soldier."  
  
"You need a soldier with you."  
  
"I need you to be able to come back home with me more."  
  
I wanted to say something, anything in response, but Steiner and his wife came trotting back down the steps. I wasn't happy with her tagging along too, but under the circumstances, I could see why he wasn't about to leave his wife behind. The goons on the street weren't going to be out forever, and I wouldn't want her to be left to their mercy if I was him.  
  
"Dr. Post is going to be meeting us there," Steiner said.  
  
Justin looked at me and then back to him. "Then let's move." 


	16. Competition

Justin  
  
Life gets weird sometimes. You don't know why or how, but then all of a sudden, it hits you from left field. The trip from Steiner's to MedGen for example. Two days ago I had been fully expecting to go to MedGen with Steiner. We were going to meet with people and discuss the situation. So now, I was going there to meet with someone to discuss the situation. Except it was now the middle of the night and we were going to be talking about killers and poison rather than patents and money. Life gets weird.  
  
My uncle's partner was waiting for us at a side door, and let us in as soon as we drove up. He was exactly as he was in Steiner's office except that he was wearing a lab coat this time. I could understand his sweating this time though. He had damn good reason to be worried, and not just that his life might be in danger. If one of his bosses saw us there, then he would probably be fired on the spot. We were in a lawsuit after all.  
  
"Thank you for meeting us," Steiner said in a low voice, shaking Winston's hand after quick introductions were made. He discreetly wiped off the excess moisture from Winston's sweaty palms onto his pant leg. "I know this is a difficult position for you, but this is a rather extraordinary situation."  
  
"Yes, it would seem to be," Winston replied, leading us down a hall and deeper into the building. "What led you to these conclusions?" The closer to the labs that we got, the more balanced Winston seemed to be getting. It was like another person was taking over him and he was becoming a scientist rather than a confused CPA.  
  
Steiner looked back at me. "Actually, it's from some investigating that I did," I spoke up. We all got on an elevator, and Winston looked at me expectantly. "Last night, someone broke into my hotel room and tried to kill me. I thought it had to be MedGen, but then I got some information that led me to believe otherwise. Basically, I got my hands on some sensitive documents from BioTech, and Jhon figured out the formulas, and we put the rest together." Amazing how easily that all summed up.  
  
He blinked. "You're positive someone was after you?"  
  
I snorted. "Them shooting up my hotel room gave it away."  
  
The elevator stopped and we all got out. "And who exactly are you?" he asked Jhondie.  
  
"I'm pre-med," she explained. "I read a lot of medical journals and I have a photographic memory. Those formulas were published last month in the AMA Journal. It wasn't hard to figure out how else it can be used when there's millions of dollars at stake."  
  
Winston sighed. "I just can't believe he was murdered over that," he said as he led us down the hall. He stopped in front of a door and ran a card through the key slot. The lights flicked to green and he opened it. "It was making money, yes, but the research we were doing was going to be much more valuable. It's not close to marketable yet, but the preliminary results are extremely encouraging."  
  
He took the water from Steiner and began setting up some test tubes and getting some chemicals from other parts of the lab. I looked around. It was such an odd feeling because the room still had my uncle's personality deeply stamped on it. It was the place of a serious professional, but a few small posters and that clock that ran backwards showed just a little spark of humor. Something to help tired scientists get through another hour of slaving away over the microscope.  
  
"Uncle Justin mentioned that he was still working with immune systems and having the body fight diseases without needing medicine," I commented. Justin had also told me that Winston loved their work and loved talking about it. Justin wouldn't give me a lot of specifics on what he was doing, claiming it was confidential information, but I had a feeling that Winston would run his mouth without thinking about it.  
  
Winston smiled as he mixed two substances together in a test tube and then lit a burner, heating the goo over a flame. "It's more than that," he replied. "See, Justin was only thinking about the immunology end. But with the genetic manipulation, I know we can forced the body to… malfunction if you will, and produce stem cells to repair damaged organs from an illness. We're both working the same problems, just from different sides." He finished heating the tube, and dumped it into a petri dish, adding something else and stirring carefully with a glass rod.  
  
"Justin always had a thing for the body healing itself," I said with a small smile. "He was always telling me about herbal supplements to use instead of antibiotics."  
  
"Nature," Winston said, quoting my uncle "has a cure for every disease that she throws out upon the face of the planet. Our job is to give her a little help in letting the world know what they are."  
  
"Exactly," I replied. Jhondie gave me a little smile behind Winston's back. She knew exactly what I was doing with the guy. "Are you going to continue on like he asked?"  
  
Winston paused for a moment, thinking about it. "I was never as encouraged as he was about the transgenic projects. It just seems wrong to use animal DNA to block human diseases. It almost seems a step back in evolution."  
  
Jhondie's eyes met mine sharply and her cute little smile collapsed. There was now a very serious soldier standing behind Winston, and she did not like what she was hearing. He didn't notice, just casually dumped in the suspect water into a tube along with whatever he had been mixing. The mix turned bright pink.  
  
"I read something about that," Jhondie said as Winston took the pink substance over to another table. "Something about creating a super-person like out of a science fiction story. They were doubting that it would ever be possible to handle the DNA cross-wiring." Her tone was that of someone that was academically curious, but her eyes were dead serious.  
  
"Well, we're not nearly that far along," Winston replied with a small smile. "We just know that there are many diseases that humans get that animals do not. So, we're pulling out those genes and splicing them into human cells. We're getting close to keeping the cells stable enough to make intensive gene therapy possible." They talked for another minute, with her asking some more questions, but I had no idea what they were saying about compounds and mitosis rates and things that ordinary human beings were never meant to know. Winston seemed to enjoy the conversation though. Jhondie seemed like she was, but I knew her too well. She did not like what she was hearing.  
  
He took the mix over to another table, and hooked it up to some form of machine. "The chemical compound uses certain amino acids that react to radiation," he explained. He loaded the tube, and it entered into a box. "I'm going to irradiate it, and if there are glowing sparks in it, then we know it was there. This is going to take a few minutes."  
  
"Hey, Jhon, let me show you something," I called out to her. "Remember that pen I was telling you about that I sent to Uncle Justin?"  
  
She smiled. "I always did want to see that thing," she replied, and went with me into his office. It was lying on top of his desk. I'll be damned. He really did use it like he swore he did. The minute we were out of sight, her pleasant expression fell off.  
  
"What the hell were you saying?" I asked. "Are they close?"  
  
"Too damn close," she replied. "See, when you are crossing DNA, it's easy to get a heart to beat and a brain to function. They inherently want to, and the heart doesn't care what it's pumping, it just wants to pump. But an immune system is very tricky. It has to recognize self, and if it thinks it should be looking for human cells, then a muscle that is formed by using mostly cat DNA might be considered foreign, and the immune system is going to attack it. They're not all the way there, but it's very, very close."  
  
I started putting things together. BioTech wanted this company. Bad enough to kill for it. The patents were just the ends to the means. The money was nice, but not needed. Bad press was what was needed to drive down the stock prices, and killing one of their researchers would do that. But there was someone else that was just as knowledgeable and could continue on with it.  
  
"Why do I feel like this research was what BioTech was really after?" I muttered.  
  
Jhondie thought for a second. "The last few companies that they took over. Did the boss have anything on what they were doing?"  
  
"Everything was different," I replied, thinking about it. That would seem to be odd. Most companies would take over the people that would benefit them by doing something similar to eliminate the competition. "One was neurological research, the other focused on muscular and cardiovascular. The other one…" My words trailed off as the final pieces fell into the puzzle. The paperwork about Manticore. I had read it wrong.  
  
"McGinnis," I muttered. She looked at me sharply, and it all made sense. "That paperwork about him and Manticore. It looked like contract negotiations, but we read it wrong. BioTech wasn't supplying. They were working with him to get information. All those companies. Each a different part of the body. BioTech can bring it together."  
  
"Oh my God," she whispered, her eyes widening in realization. "They aren't vendors for Manticore at all."  
  
"They're competitors." 


	17. Last Piece

Jhondie  
  
For the last ten years of my life, I had been focused that Manticore was the enemy. They were the ones that did bad things to small children and were the ones that wanted me dead or alive. I didn't think too much about others, but they had to be out there. Manticore wasn't a new and unique style of thought. It was just a successful one. Building a transgenic biosynth was not an easy task, and to whoever did it, such a thing would be worth millions. They would have orders for thousands of them to be built and sent off to dozens of countries for training and development. I knew that billions had to have been spent on Manticore and making me. I knew I was supposed to be a soldier. I just had never thought of myself as technology that would be up for sale.  
  
"They've probably been trying to get an in with Manticore," Justin continued in a low voice. "Maybe McGinnis is low on cash or something and can sell them blueprints on the side."  
  
"Maybe," I muttered. "He could be point of contact for trading. Manticore got the whole package to work. BioTech might have upgrades in some areas, but they can't get the whole thing to work."  
  
I couldn't help a shiver. Technology. That was all we were to guys like this. What would they do if they knew about me? That would depend on how fast they could get me on a dissection table. For the first time, I wished I hadn't come here at all. Justin must have been able to read my thoughts for a moment. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me tight against him. This is what I came here for. Him. I was starting to not be worried about him, and scared for myself.  
  
"You're safe," he whispered in my ear. "Nobody has any idea. You're still a dream to Winston, and BioTech doesn't know you exist at all. Manticore isn't about to tell them that there's twelve free prototypes running around if you can catch one." He pulled back, and looked me in the eye. "And don't worry about Steiner. You're just an LA punk to him. All LA punks know how to do what you did."  
  
I leaned back into his arms, grateful for his warmth. It would be so easy to forget myself. Pretend that I was a normal person and that I didn't have to worry about black helicopters or overly ambitious scientists. I wondered if Justin wished that I could be a normal girlfriend. Someone he could take out and have fun with and not have to wonder if she was going to be there the next day. Someone that he didn't have to think of as a partner as well as a lover. Bad timing for me to get all introspective all of a sudden, I know, but I couldn't help it. For that moment, I was just glad he was there to hold me and let me know without saying anything that I was far more than really cool technology up on the market.  
  
"I've got to stop his research," I said, thinking about how close Winston was. A year, two at the most, and he was going to have a transgenic immune system. "It's bad enough to have one group making transgenics, but at least they're trying to keep it a secret. Researchers like him have no idea when to say it's enough and not go any further."  
  
Justin appeared to be thinking about something. "Promise me you won't do anything rash," he said.  
  
I blinked. "Anything I do will be very carefully calculated." It would be. You have to be precise when setting explosives. Zack. I wasn't the best with explosives. Syl was the one that had loved munitions drills. Any excuse to blow something up was a good one for her. Zack would get her to do this even if he didn't want me to be a part of it.  
  
"Jhon…"Justin said warningly, but Winston interrupted us before Justin could try and question me further.  
  
"It's glowing," Winston announced flatly from the door. He blew out a breath. "You were right. There's someone trying to kill off everyone involved."  
  
Not really. But that wasn't something he needed to understand. Best to keep him afraid. It would work out better later when all of his research went up in smoke. In any case, we went back into the lab and saw for ourselves the blue particles glowing amid the pink. Steiner and his wife were roughly the color of bleached paper as they realized what a close call it had been.  
  
Steiner had said earlier that he filtered his water and left it in the fridge for his middle of the night needs. "It had to have been done today," I said, looking at Steiner and his wife. "You would already be dead if it had been poisoned any earlier."  
  
"But…I was home all day," Mrs. Steiner protested. "We didn't have any repair men or anything like that show up. Not even a salesperson." She looked at her husband. "And your clients never left your office, right?"  
  
Steiner glanced up. "My business office was being sprayed for bugs today, and I can't stand the smell," he explained. "I had to work out of my home office, but all of the people I saw came in and out. None of them went into the kitchen though."  
  
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, the person going to poison the water was really going to ask if he could go into the kitchen and get a drink all alone. That wouldn't be suspicious at all. "What you think they did and what really happened are two different things. Who have you picked up as a new client since BioTech first started going after MedGen that was there earlier?"  
  
Steiner blew out a breath. "I didn't see many people today," he said, trying to think back on the day. "I don't like seeing new clients out of my home. Anyways, it was mostly paperwork trying to deal with MedGen's legal maneuvers. The only clients that I saw have been with me for years. Mrs. Harker came to see if it would be legal to sue cows, and then Miss Riddle came to collect what Dr. Carter's left her." He pursed his lips slightly, still thinking. "Those are the only two that haven't been with me for at least ten or fifteen years."  
  
"Wendy was there?" Justin asked quickly.  
  
Steiner smiled slightly. "Yes, but I don't think she's exactly threat material." He obviously didn't work for our boss. Anyone can be a threat if they want to be. And it would seem that he also believed in the theory that girls were never dangerous like men. It was a double-edged sword sometimes.  
  
Justin blinked, thinking about something. "She couldn't bear to touch Uncle Justin's gym bag," he said. "She could live in his apartment with all of his things, but she couldn't touch his bag. She asked Dad to empty it."  
  
"Was the inside wet?" I asked. "If she was worried about the water spilling, or the chemicals coming out through his sweat onto a towel…"  
  
"You can't believe that Wendy is a killer," Winston interjected. "I've known the woman for over a year now. She still cries at the end of Charlotte's Web. This test tube is more dangerous than she is."  
  
"The test tube holding enough poison to kill us all?" I asked pointedly. "Packaging is very often deceiving. Trust me on that."  
  
Justin looked up at Steiner. "Why did my uncle redo his will?" he asked. "I know it was just a couple of months ago. It was to include her, wasn't it?"  
  
"Well, that was part," Steiner admitted. "Dr. Carter said that the main reason was to make sure that you knew about the patents. You weren't supposed to see the earlier version, just your father. Dr. Carter thought you were too young to really understand what had happened."  
  
"So why did he change his mind?" Justin fired back.  
  
Steiner shrugged. "He felt that it was time…just in case that he died before you turned twenty-five. He said that you were mature enough to handle things on your own now. But he had been thinking about it for a good six months that I know of."  
  
I thought about the dates on the Manticore contracts. Justin and I looked at each other and he was thinking about it too. They were dated for seven months ago. "How long had she been living with him?" I asked.  
  
"About seven months," he replied flatly. "They had been dating since last year." Score one for the blonde bimbos of the world. Chick had been planning this for quite a while. So who was she really and what was her connection to BioTech?  
  
"She moved in with him, convinced him to let me know in his will, and then killed him when the mission was accomplished," Justin said quickly.  
  
"But that was months ago," Winston protested, but weakly this time. He was starting to see how things could have gone.  
  
"He put her into the will as well," I said. "It would look funny if he died right away. Since the other person involved in the change was also going to die according to her, it was better that she wait and let things go on like normal."  
  
"I can't believe she had the audacity to come into my house and collect the money," Steiner spat.  
  
A pneumatic hiss caught all of our attention. We looked up at the door as it slid open and a blonde walked through with a pistol in her right hand. A silencer crouched evilly on its end. She smirked at us and pulled an earpiece away from her ear.  
  
"I didn't ask him to do that," she said coldly. "But since I was the one that had to screw him for a year, then I'll accept it as combat pay and move on. But first, the loose ends." The pistol came up rapidly, a single shot making a dull thud ringing in the room. 


	18. End Game

Justin  
  
Time seemed to slow for a second after Wendy pulled the trigger. Everything went into slow motion. Jhondie had been standing next to Winston. Then she was catching him as he was falling backwards, an arterial spray fountaining up from his neck. Steiner falling to the floor, pulling his wife down with him. And then Wendy moving the gun towards me. She didn't get a chance to get a second shot off at one of us. I had been through enough in the last two days and I wasn't about to put up with more. Maybe she was used to people panicking when they got shot at and became easy targets. In any case, the expression on her face was almost comical when, instead of trying to run, I jumped at her.  
  
I sidestepped and leapt forward, catching her wrist and shoving the gun upwards, her second shot going harmlessly into the ceiling instead of me. She fell back into the doorjamb, the gun falling and skidding across the floor. She sneered at me, moving into an attack stance when a third shot rang out, shattering the glass beside her. Startled, we both looked up to see Mrs. Steiner with the gun, leveling it at Wendy.  
  
If the woman had ever handled a gun before, she might have been able to fire another shot off before Wendy could take off and thus ended the whole thing right then and there. But she hadn't and didn't and Wendy took off like a bat out of hell down the hall. I glanced back at Jhondie. She had tried to stop the flow of blood, but there were some things that even she wasn't capable of doing. Our eyes met, and I knew she was pissed. If there was one thing she hated, it was to be outmaneuvered, and Wendy had done it quite well on her.  
  
Without speaking, both of us took off down the hall, racing towards wherever Wendy had run off too. Elevators. That seemed like the best bet. The hallway split and went into a square pattern the met back up on the other side where the elevators were. Jhondie and I split up, one of us sure to get her then. I hoped it would be me. It was going to be much less messy if I was there before Jhondie.  
  
At least I thought it was going to be. I rounded the corner and the shot rang out. A searing heat flared on my upper arm, burning pain spreading up my shoulder and down to my wrist. My left side was thrown back, knocking me into the wall. Wendy stepped into the elevator and the doors slid shut. Things grayed for a second, and then I felt hands grabbing at me. Jhondie. She was paper white and I thought for a second that she must have been the one to get shot.  
  
"I'm okay," I said as she yanked at my jacket, practically ripping it off to see the damage.  
  
"You are when I say you are," she snapped back. From how bad it hurt and how red my sleeve was getting, I was almost scared to look myself. A long thin streak had bitten deeply into my upper arm. Not deadly, but enough to scare the hell out of me. Jhondie ripped the sleeve out of my jacket and made a bandage out of it, tying it tight to stop up the flow of blood. She wasn't talking and worse, she wasn't cursing Wendy for all she was worth. Very, very bad signs.  
  
"Jhon," I said warningly, "we'll get her later. Don't be stupid and get seen doing anything."  
  
She stood and went to the elevator doors, still holding my jacket. Her fingers dug into the crease where the doors came together and yanked them apart seemingly without effort. She turned back to me, her eyes narrowed with rage. "Don't worry about witnesses," she said coldly, wrapping my jacket around her hand. Then she jumped into the opening, grabbing the cable and sliding down the cord rapidly.  
  
I knew that I should have been furious for her to do that, and to be willing to go after Wendy for the sake of killing her, but for some reason, I just couldn't make myself feel anger. Actually, as I went to the stairs and started running down them, trying to ignore the throbbing in my arm, I was hoping I would get there too late to stop her from doing it.  
  
Jhondie  
  
She tried to kill Justin. Right there, in front of me, not once but twice. The bitch tried to kill my boyfriend. Wrong answer. I would have been willing to just stop her and make sure the cops got her for Justin's uncle. I would have just slapped her around a little for Winston. But she had to shoot Justin didn't she. Time to die.  
  
The elevator had already stopped when I hit the roof of it. We had only been on the third floor of the building. No matter. She wasn't getting away from me. There wasn't a human being alive that could outrun me, and she wasn't going to be around long enough to say anything to anyone about the little transgenic with a serious attitude problem. I shoved the ceiling access panel aside and dropped down to the floor of the elevator, sliding through the doors just as they were closing.  
  
She was already halfway across the lobby, running for the front doors. A coppery scent was in the air, and I took a quick glance over to the guard station. One of them was slumped over the desk, a pool of blood congealing below him. No wonder we didn't get a call that there was a guest at the front desk. Maybe she heard me come out of the elevator or maybe it just knew that she was being followed, but she whipped around, her .38 raised. When she saw it was just me, a cold smile spread across her mouth. Then she fired.  
  
It had been a long time since I felt like I did right then. Every detail in the room was clear and precise in my head. Every line and color and scent was etched deeply, coming together with absolute clarity. The back of my mind was automatically processing angles and routes and all of the little details, but the rest of me was seeing things not as a person, but as a hunter with the scent of prey in her nose. When she fired, it didn't faze me. The automatic processes made me dodge the bullet easily as I walked towards her steadily, secure in my power and knowing that the little toy in her hand was no match for what had been built into me.  
  
The smile fell off of her face, shattering like a glass hitting a tile floor when I dodged the first bullet without missing a stride. And the second one. She started backing away, the shock on her face on the verge of comical. "Aww, what's the matter?" I mocked, coming ever closer to her. "Let me guess, you're the big bad killer bitch until the real thing shows up, huh?"  
  
The gun slowly lowered, her blue eyes huge now, filling with understanding and terror. "Oh my God," she gasped. "You're one of them!"  
  
I sneered. "Did Manticore forget to tell you about their dirty little secrets?" I said in that same mocking tone. "I guess since you were so hyped on getting your hands on transgenic technology, they wouldn't want to tell you about the escapees that are free for the taking. Of course, getting your hands on one of us isn't exactly an easy task. But you're not going to ever have to worry about that." I guess she didn't like what she heard there, because she broke off the banter and turned for the front door, running at full speed. I almost laughed. What the hell was she thinking?  
  
I darted after her, catching up to her easily on the front sidewalk. I grabbed her by the neck and shoved, throwing her forward onto the pavement. She flipped over, crawling backwards, still trying to escape. I rolled my eyes. How pitiful can you get? One second she was all confident, killing people like she knew what she was doing, and now here she was, reduced to quivering terror. If you are going to be an assassin, then have the courage to be one to the end, and not run and whimper when something better comes along. Lydecker never taught that lesson, but we gleaned it from between the lines. Be a soldier to the end. Just because I ducked out of the good little soldier program early didn't mean I forgot the lessons. I just chose for myself when I was going to use them. And now was looking very good.  
  
A light breeze was blowing, bringing the scents of the city to my nose. Maybe I was just in a very keyed up state, but I could smell so much more than normal. And one scent caught my attention well. The analyzer in the back of my mind processed it easily, with direction and distance built right in. Well, well, well.I wondered how often I just hadn't known before. Didn't matter. Enjoy the show. I had other things to take care of.  
  
"Go on," I said coldly, "get up." She unsteadily got to her feet, anger starting to come in her eyes a bit. Being killed she could stand, but I didn't think she liked me playing with her. Killing her would be so easy to do. One hand. I could snap her neck with one hand. So why hadn't I? Zack had accused me before of liking to play with things before I pounced. He was the first one to comment that I was the most vicious one of the group because of that. Why wasn't Wendy dead? Was I still playing? Or.was it possible I had changed more than I thought?  
  
Justin  
  
Hearing two more gunshots was all the encouragement I needed to ignore the pain and sprint down the last few flights of stairs. I knew Jhondie was fast, but I had never seen her try to dodge bullets before. Maybe she could, maybe she couldn't, but I really hoped that it wasn't being put to the test. I flew through the lobby doors, looking around sharply. Empty. Dead guards at the front desk. The gunshots were to them? Person-like shadows outside. Seemed like the place to be.  
  
I ran across the lobby and out the front doors. Wendy and Jhondie were standing face to face about ten feet apart. I stopped. What the hell? Wendy was still armed, but she wasn't trying to use it. She must have just learned a lot about Jhondie in the last few minutes. But Jhondie wasn't attacking either. From the mood she had been in when she left me, I would have thought that Wendy would be a bloody pulp by then.  
  
But then I really looked at Jhondie. The way she was standing. Her hands were in tight fists and her jaw was clinching and relaxing. She wanted to attack. That was what was wrong. She wanted to tear into Wendy. In that moment I could see the killer animal warring with her essential humanity, both fighting to become the dominant aspect of her personality. I wasn't sure how I knew, but I could tell that it wasn't the animal that was winning.  
  
Wendy looked at me and then back at Jhondie. Her gun jerked up, a triumphant smile as she thought she had a hostage to save her life. At that final threat to me, Jhondie's hesitation vanished in a blink. Her arms came up, wrists snapping together above her shoulder to form a cross- shaped pattern, and the answering gunshot was immediate.  
  
Wendy's eyes got huge for a second, a single thread of blood trickling down from the small hole in her forehead. Then she collapsed to the ground, the back of her head partially missing in a gout of blood and gray matter that had splattered onto the sidewalk behind her. Jhondie did a sharp about- face, not looking at me, but waiting. I should have guessed. Zack was there in a few seconds.  
  
Maybe it was just blood loss, but I would have sworn that Zack didn't look as pissed as I would have thought he should be. If I didn't know better, I would think he was almost proud of Jhondie. "What the hell are you doing here?" he snarled at her, the illusion of a flicker of pride broken. He glanced at me blackly, making me wonder who his next victim was going to be.  
  
"She knew about Manticore," Jhondie replied just as coldly. "They're trying to get biosynth technology for sale. I would call that an enemy force, wouldn't you? And a gunshot is less.questionable than a broken neck."  
  
Before Zack could say anything, the distant sound of sirens reached us. Both of them looked up in alarm. They were a couple of fugitives and there was a dead body. Only one thing to do. "Give me the gun," I said quickly. Jhondie looked at me, confused.  
  
"Nobody knows you're here, right?" I said. "So don't be here. Give me the gun, and I say I did it."  
  
"Justin."Jhondie tried to protest, but I cut her off.  
  
"Dammit, there's no time," I snapped insistently. "I'm bleeding and I'm rich. When I say it was self-defense, they'll believe it. Just go."  
  
"What about them?" She was afraid to leave me, and I understood that, but her being here was far worse.  
  
"Steiner's a lawyer," I replied with a crooked smile. "He'll say what I tell him to say. He thinks you're an LA punk. I'll tell him you weren't supposed to leave the city and that's why he can't say anything. He never saw you do anything a normal person couldn't do."  
  
Zack gave me an appraising look and then handed me the gun. "Make sure you clean off the prints and put yours on there." He grabbed Jhondie's arm. "We have to go now," he said firmly, his tone carrying the command.  
  
She hesitated for a second. "Please," I mouthed, wanting her out of danger more than covering my own butt. She pulled away from Zack for a second, kissing me quickly.  
  
"I love you," she whispered, and then let Zack take control again. I went back inside to talk to Steiner and a few minutes later blue and red flashing lights were illuminating the side of the building. 


	19. Dad

Justin  
  
Ah, the joy of stitches. Having a needle jammed into my skin multiple times while the doctor sewed the gash in my arm shut sucked, but the painkillers were great, so it was a fair enough trade. It was almost a relief to be at a hospital. The relief was that I wasn't trying to explain things to cops and listen in on Steiner and make sure we were still telling the same story. The almost part showed up just as the doctor came in to start sewing me up. Unfortunately they had already determined I was going to live, so I didn't have much hope for mercy when my father walked into the exam room.  
  
At least the clean up had been done. Before the cops got to MedGen, I had wiped off the gun, the story already forming in my mind. I put it in Wendy's hand for a moment, and then held it in mine like I had fired it. I wasn't sure if they would be able to tell which prints were put on first, but that eliminated that problem. Wendy had eliminated the second one herself when she had taken out the guard at the front desk. She had yanked out and destroyed the tape of the cameras so there was nothing recorded from that night. More important, there was no evidence of Jhondie being there. Steiner believed my story of Jhondie having a parole officer that would throw her in jail if he knew she had left LA. Since she did save his life, he agreed to edit out that little nonessential fact.  
  
It was easy enough to explain things to the cops. I was bleeding. Dead guy upstairs. Dead shooter outside. Lots of money involved in corporate takeovers. Wendy had taken two more shots at me in the lobby and dropped the gun. I didn't know why. She just did. But she had another one so it didn't matter. I grabbed it and when she tried on the sidewalk, I got in one good one. End of story. They took notes and statements and then shipped my bleeding self over to a hospital to get stitched up. They were easy. Dad was not going to be so easy.  
  
He didn't say much as the doctor stitched my arm up and bandaged it. He told me he would give me a prescription for some oral painkillers and I could be on my way. I would rather have whatever they injected me with earlier, but you can't have everything. The doctor left and Dad gave me a cold, hard stare for a long moment. I might have just started babbling and confessed everything, but I was feeling a little more mellow than normal at the moment.  
  
"Your hotel called me very early this morning," he said evenly. "Place had been shot up and you disappeared. Luckily I was still on the contact list."  
  
"Dad." I tried to explain, but he cut me off.  
  
"So I called Steiner since I know that if something happened to you, I would be the first person you called," he continued. His tone was perfectly calm. I had never seen him this pissed before, and that included the time he found out that I had a fake ID when I was fifteen. "And wouldn't you know it, but Steiner said you were just fine, but he couldn't tell me more because of lawyer/client confidentiality. So I decide to come up here, and ask Ashley if she would watch the twins, and you want to guess what she tells me?"  
  
I leaned back in the suturing chair and closed my eyes, blowing out a breath. "She's fine," I said in a low voice. "I didn't want her to have to get dragged into the official mess. And I was too busy trying to find out who was trying to kill me to tell everyone where I was. Besides, the phones might have been tapped and then they would have known exactly where I was. Not the best thing when you are trying to avoid death. Steiner had to be contacted so that he would stop negotiations with MedGen since I thought at first they were responsible."  
  
This was not helping my case any. I guess the last thing a parent wants to hear is that he is a liability rather than a help. "Dad, I didn't think about the hotel calling you. I got chased all over the city last night with some guys trying to kill me, and they almost did. I had to focus on what was immediate, and the rest was just going to have to wait. I had to find out what was going on." I hoped that would help. He knew it was my nature to find out the truth first.  
  
"Ever consider a little thing called calling the police?" he snapped.  
  
I grimaced. "Cops are for sale to the highest bidder," I replied sharply. "Especially in this city. All it would have taken was BioTech to own one or two and I would have been history. This had to be a solo act."  
  
"Not exactly solo," he commented. God, this was not something I wanted to explain. Not something I would explain. I didn't care what I had to say to protect her but I had promised her once that I would never tell anyone, and to me, that included my father.  
  
"We were on the phone when I was at the hotel. She heard the gunshots and I wouldn't answer and she panicked. I sent her an e-mail later to not worry, but she was already on her way. I tried to send her back but telling her to do something is like trying to tell that wall to move three feet to the left." I was hoping he would laugh. He had said before how stubborn Jhondie was when someone she cared about was involved. He had no idea.  
  
"And you just got all of this information about BioTech anonymously at the hotel?" That's what I had told the cops. There was a letter slid under my door when I got in the day before with a magazine article attached that had the formula on it and what it did, and that it dissolved instantly in water. The letter said that BioTech had the chemical and was trying to do a hostile take over. I put it together when someone tried to kill me too. The letter wasn't at the hotel? Not a shock since the bad guys must have known about it, which is why they tried to kill me loudly instead of quietly like my uncle, and taken it before they left.  
  
I still wished Dad hadn't asked me that question. I suck at lying to him. "Dad.I found out what I needed to know and went from there, okay?"  
  
He held up a CD and I knew I was screwed. My laptop. The CD the informant had given to me had been in my laptop. Dad's eyes were cold. "You didn't mention this to the police."  
  
"No I did not," I replied evenly. Thank God for drugs. They were the only things keeping me from trying to run like hell about then. "They didn't need to know about it."  
  
"You lied to them about how you got all of that information," he accused, bitterness finally starting to creep into his voice.  
  
"They were happy with the story they got," I replied sharply. "Good journalists protect their sources, remember? I got critical information and used it. That's what counted and that's what anyone needs to know."  
  
Dad shook his head. "None of this is adding up, son. Ashley said that you arranged the ticket and paperwork. You managed to do that, but now you're claiming you were running for your life at the same time. You got information that you should have and I looked at what was on this CD. You want to hear what a search on that drug came up with?"  
  
I looked away. I already knew there wasn't a thing on it. The files were all with Jhondie back at the motel where we had stayed. Where I should have left my damn laptop, but I had brought it in case we needed it to jack into a security system. Jhondie had done some set up earlier in case she was going to have to do that and everything was set. At least my e-mail program was encrypted so Dad didn't read more than he should have. How was I supposed to explain all of this now without mentioning Jhondie and why she was capable of getting to Seattle?  
  
"It doesn't matter," I insisted. "You can believe what you want to. I had to do what I did, and I am not going to feel bad for it. It's all taken care of now. Why worry about how I got to where I did?"  
  
Dad gave me a curt nod. "Fine. Where's Jhondie? I really want to know how she managed to get here."  
  
Son of a bitch. That was pure blackmail and we both knew it. He didn't know how much it was though. Worst case, and she would have to let Dad know about herself. That's what she had said. As Dad went to walk out of the room, I knew that she would tell him and take all of the blame on herself. That was not going to happen.  
  
"I didn't have to arrange anything for Jhondie." Dad stopped and turned around. Our eyes met evenly. "She contacted someone here and he arranged for everything. Same person that I got that CD from."  
  
Dad looked at me disbelievingly. "You just happened to know someone here that could do all of that and would do it?"  
  
"I've been working for him the last couple of years. He's more than capable, and after all we've done for him, doing what he did was a nice way to say thanks."  
  
Dad blinked. "Who the hell are you talking about?" I don't think I needed to really say the words right then. Dad was a very intelligent man, and he was already putting the pieces together. I was planning on being an investigative journalist. We were in Seattle. There was someone in Seattle that I had professed admiration for that was in my field.  
  
"You already know who I'm talking about," I replied, confirming the suspicions. I didn't want to say the words out loud, at least not in a public place like this. Anyone could walk in, and I didn't want them to hear the words "Informant Net" or "Eyes Only" being tossed around. "We're playing on his home turf and he's capable of some pretty incredible things up here."  
  
Dad sat down heavily, stunned at what I had just said. "Incredible?" he fired back. "More like criminal."  
  
"He is not a criminal," I defended immediately.  
  
"Really?" Dad said sarcastically. "I'm so glad to hear that he's a fine upstanding citizen. After all, lots of people with nothing to hide use illegal means to spread rumor and innuendo. Son, you want to be a real journalist, you know I've supported you for years on that, but this man, he.he makes people panic and then believe what he tells them to since they are scared. A lot of these people remember the Pulse Riots and how some heavy means were used to restore order. It wasn't pretty so now there's going to be a natural distrust of the government. He banks on that to feed his own need for power. And now he's got you believing in those lies as well."  
  
"He tells the truth," I snapped. "I'd rather hide and tell the truth than be in the open and spouting one lie after another. I just spent three weeks at a workshop where we were being taught to do just that. It made me ill to hear all of that crap. I will not be part of the problem when I can be part of the solution."  
  
"And you're just going to blindly believe that what he's saying is the truth?" Dad questioned me, trying to be reasonable and get me to see what he believed was the light. "The headlines of trash tabloids sound plausible too, you know."  
  
"I know what I've done is the truth. I'd say at least 80% of the information in the hacks we've seen in LA in the past year is things that I've gotten for him. Stories that I've done the research on and found the evidence and gave to him to expose." I looked away, trying to explain something that was hard to define in my own head.  
  
"The last two hacks that were done were things that he never asked me to start researching. I did it all myself. The only thing I couldn't do was getting the word out myself because of all of the censorship. So I used the only means available. And things did change. Remember that kiddy porn ring that was exposed two months ago? That hack forced the cops to get involved. They couldn't get paid enough to ignore it then since people were watching. If people who do evil in this world aren't afraid of being caught and punished, then they are going to continue to do it. I can let it happen. Or I can decide that the world will not be like this while I can make a change."  
  
Dad didn't say anything, and then my doctor came back in. His eyes flicked from me to my father and then back again, the tension in the air concerning him. He correctly decided that none of it mattered to him and gave me a prescription and some instructions before letting me go. Dad didn't really say anything as he drove us back to the hotel that Steiner had booked us into. It wasn't the one we had stayed at before. For some reason, they weren't thrilled at the idea of having me back. Couldn't blame them.  
  
We went inside the room, and Dad waited in silence while I went to the bathroom and cleaned up. It was nice to get all of the blood off of me. I was getting groggy from the painkillers and wanted to talk to Jhondie and get a little sleep. When I came out, Dad was still there, but this time he was looking more thoughtful than angry.  
  
"That porn ring," he said hesitantly. "I saw the broadcast about that. It showed a picture of a little girl and I did a massive double take. She looked so much like Brittany. They could have been sisters, it was that close. I couldn't imagine something like that happening to my daughter. I remember watching it and wondering if it was true, what was happening to these girls and where their parents were."  
  
"Melanie Ann King," I said, sitting down on the bed. "I'm still not too positive about what happened to some of the girls, including her. I think once they get to a certain age, they stopped taking pictures of them and shipped them overseas and sold them into slavery. That wasn't broadcasted since I don't have any proof. That's still a suspicion, so it's not a hack." The last sentence was stated for effect. It didn't seem to faze Dad though. He was still deep in thought about the situation.  
  
"And Jhondie is." he questioned.  
  
"My partner," I replied. "It's a long story and I don't want to get into it, but at first when we were just friends, we were also partners, helping to get this information to Eyes Only. I don't know if she's going to be able to keep helping me for much longer since she does have to concentrate on her own future career. But yeah, she knows everything."  
  
Dad got up and went to the window, staring out onto the street and into the broken city of Seattle. A long moment passed as he processed everything. "I'm proud of you, son," he finally said quietly, shocking the hell out of me. "I know I shouldn't be since I can't say I approve of what you've been doing, but I am anyways." He turned around and met my eyes. "When I was your age, my main goals were getting through college and getting in as much partying as possible before graduating. And here you are running around trying to save the world and still keeping your GPA up. That takes a hell of a lot of strength of conviction and for that, I'm proud of you."  
  
It's kind of funny. I thought that I was a man and didn't need my parent's approval to do what I wanted in my life. That was being an adult. You got to make your own choices and take your own consequences for them. But I was glad to hear that from my father. Kids do want to make their parents proud of them no matter what age they are. I wasn't exactly taking the route he had thought I would, but he was the one that taught me to set the highest goals for myself. This was the way to accomplish my goal and I was doing it. He understood that and was proud of me for what I had done. I was glad he knew. It meant no more sneaking around and hiding things, yes, but most importantly, it meant he knew that what he had taught, the values he had tried to instill were there and that I was going to live up to them. And that was the one thing that every parent wanted. To know that their child had taken what they had been taught and used it to seek for the highest that was possible. 


	20. Hard Lessons

Jhondie  
  
I went back to the motel where Justin and I had spent the day and waited. And waited. And paced a thousand times across the room. And waited. I managed to annoy the hell out of Zack who was still hanging around for some reason that I couldn't fathom. Maybe it was to make sure that I was really planning on leaving Seattle. I was as soon as I heard from Justin. But what was taking so long? Did he have to have surgery? I thought about that, and immediately went to go do some recon at the hospital, but Zack stopped me. He reminded me that Justin was fine when we left him so chances were that he was still fine. Justin had just lied to the cops about a lot of things and if I showed up then it was going to cause a lot more questions to be asked and questions were a very bad thing. I hated it when Zack was right. So I went back to pacing.  
  
Zack ignored me for a long time. He watched TV for a while and let me have my little mental breakdown in peace and quiet. Jerk. I knew why he wasn't leaving. He was on guard duty to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. I was in the mood to fret and if I didn't know better, I would have sworn that I was amusing the hell out of him. That was the main reason I changed my pacing route and made sure I walked back and forth in front of the TV. If he wanted to keep pissing me off, then I was going to tell him that just the morning before I had sex on the very bed he was laying back on.  
  
After what must have been, despite what the clock was saying because we all know how clocks lie, a thirty-seven hour wait, the phone rang. Zack didn't move. He wasn't about to risk getting run down as I ran to the phone. Zack had been stronger than me and better at hand to hand combat, but I was much faster. I crossed the room in a fraction of a second and had the phone in hand.  
  
"Hello?" I said, expecting anything at this point.  
  
"Hey baby," Justin's casual reply came back. I nearly collapsed in relief.  
  
"Are you okay?" I asked, glad that Zack had his back to me while watching TV. I didn't want to see him rolling his eyes and looking annoyed when I dared to express some kind of emotion besides "let's go hide or kill something".  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. I could tell from his voice that he was relaxing somewhere. God, I wanted to be with him right then. "They shot me up with some great stuff, stitched me up and now I'm going to let the drugs do what they're supposed to do and sleep for a little bit."  
  
I smiled. He sounded so out of it. "Where are you at?" I could ditch Zack and head over there. I was sure Zack was ready to get away from me anyways. He did not like spending this much time close to one of us. And we had actually talked some too. Just chatting kind of talk. Very, very strange. But I liked it.  
  
Justin blew out a breath and I knew something was wrong. "I am at the hotel Dad took me to when he came to the hospital to get me." Oh hell. Please don't tell me."Oh," he added, "you might want to call your mother and let her know that you're not dead either." I closed my eyes and prayed I would be struck dead about then. Finding out that I had lied to her and waltzed off into a battle zone was not going to make her a happy camper. There were things worse than dealing with Mom when she was pissed. Wrestling a wild panther that hadn't eaten in two days was probably one of them, but only if you had just had your eyes gouged out with hot pokers as well.  
  
I was still alive. Figures. I had used up all of my prayer points in the last two days I guess. "I guess staying here and hiding from her for a few years until she calms down is out of the question," I said, trying to be humorous. From the black look Zack shot me all of a sudden, he didn't find it quite so funny. What the hell was his problem with me being in Seattle? "Maybe I'll just stick around until you finish up here and give her some time to cool off."  
  
Justin thought about it for a minute. "I think it would be much better all the way around if you went back to LA. I'm probably going to leave tomorrow night or the next morning at the latest. And if you're here then Steiner is going to wonder about the whole parole situation." He yawned hugely and I knew he was staying awake by a sheer effort of will. "Everything is fine now, cariña. Just take care of yourself, okay?"  
  
"I will," I promised. "Call me when you wake up."  
  
"Will do," he muttered. "Love you."  
  
"Me too," I replied, not wanting to make Zack vomit when he heard the "L" word from my mouth. The receiver clicked and I hung up, feeling much better.  
  
"When are you leaving?" Zack asked immediately. I sighed. There went the semi-human person I had been conversing with earlier and in walked my soldier of a big brother.  
  
"I think the first flight to LA in the morning," I replied. He glared at me pointedly. It was glare #302 that meant, "you need to move out now". "I'd leave tonight and try to get a flight out, but honestly, I'm tired and want some time to rest before I get moving again."  
  
"You want to sleep?" he asked skeptically.  
  
"It's not unheard of for me to sleep, as you would know if you were around more often," I replied teasingly. "It's been a good week since I've slept and I was under a lot of stress the last couple of days." I paused and grimaced. "Besides, it lets me putting off calling my mom and apologizing for lying to her a little while longer."  
  
Zack didn't say anything about that, but he did smirk for a second. I told him that I had hacked my way here for the flight and the paperwork and what I had told Mom. I think me being able to pull one over on Mom had actually impressed him. He knew how hard that was to do to her. There had been more than one time that she had looked at him, told him to knock off the lies and just refuse to answer when he didn't want to tell the truth. I think it was possible that she was the only person to ever perceive when he was being less than honest. In any case, that smirk meant "better you than me". Genetically engineered super soldier or not, nobody wanted to deal with my mother when she was in a mood.  
  
I lay down on the bed, stretching out with my hands behind my head. My eyes closed as I relaxed. Relaxed. I could relax right then. Zack was there. At Manticore I had always felt safer if Zack was nearby. He had been the strong one, the tough one. He was the one that didn't shatter when Eva died. Was murdered. I had followed his lead then and not fallen apart and attacked Lydecker like I wanted to. He kept me from getting killed as well that night as well I suppose. And then we had made our escape and simply trusted in him and what he wanted us to do.  
  
Having him with me then reminded me about the nights at Manticore when we were together. Thinking about it, this was the first time that I had rested and had another X-5 with me. I was never scared at nights at Manticore for that very reason. We were together. We trusted each other and would protect the others and cover for them if there was a problem. And if you needed something else, if you had a really bad day or things were just becoming too much and you didn't know if you could take it another day, there was always that one thing that could be said, and it was always responded to. Not by any one person in particular, though it was mostly Ben, but we all knew and all understood without needing to explain. One little request.  
  
"Tell me about the good place," I said out loud, very quietly.  
  
I could feel Zack get tense for a moment. That was the one thing he probably never expected me to say again in my life. And I knew that if I directly questioned him, he would say it was all a fairy tale, something that we had all made up in order to keep ourselves sane and believing that there was more out there than pain and death. It might have been. But it had a purpose back then. And somehow, it still did. I knew that as I felt Zack move, sliding down so that he was lying beside me.  
  
"In the good place," he whispered, so quietly even I had a hard time hearing him, "you can sleep as late as you want. And there's always enough to eat and nobody ever has to go to the basement. You'll never have to do munitions drills if you don't want to. When you're in the good place."  
  
His words seemed to mingle into a flow of comforting sound as I let sleep overtake me, plunging me into a dreamless dark.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I'll have her there then." Zack's words woke me a few hours later. Hours. I must have been exhausted. Either that or Zack slipped me something in a drink. I wouldn't think that, but I put nothing past him. Still, who the hell was he talking to? Zack hung up the phone, all traces of his former gentleness gone. Maybe that had been a dream but it certainly didn't feel like it. Oh well. That was just.Zack.  
  
"Get your gear," he ordered. "We've got a rendezvous in an hour to get you out of the city."  
  
"I'm going back to Los Angeles after I see Justin," I said pointedly. It wasn't the seeing Justin part that I was really concerned about. I knew he was fine and would be home in a day or so. I wanted Zack to know that whomever we were meeting, they were taking me back to LA. If he wanted to play hardball and threaten to cut off contact, then I would call his bluff. I was going home.  
  
Zack grunted some sort of reply and I got my stuff together. I also noticed that Zack had finished off an extra large supreme pizza that only had two slices missing from it when I went to sleep. But that wasn't important. Important was the fact he was constantly checking the time as we headed out of the motel and into Seattle. I still had my forged sector pass. Zack had actually approved of that. He didn't ask me how I had gotten it. That wasn't important to him. He had one of his own so we were all set as we weaved through the streets until we got to a seedier section of town.  
  
It actually wasn't all that bad. It was just where the regular people lived. The ones with the menial jobs that were squatting in what should have been abandoned apartment buildings. Most of them were probably good people that were stuck in the quagmire of the post-Pulse economic depression. Nobody was trying to mug us, so what could I say. I guess to them I would have been a California princess with my nice house and family and education.  
  
Zack had blended into the crowds with me quite well. His arm was casually draped over my shoulders and was smiling and occasionally laughing at whatever fake conversation we were making as we meandered down the streets. You wouldn't have even thought of him as a toughened soldier on a serious mission if you didn't know him. We just looked like a couple of close friends, probably dating, that had just gotten off of work and were heading to our favorite hangout. The type that you might smile at for a moment, happy to see that someone found happiness in this miserable world, and then forget about five minutes later. The best place to hide, after all, is in the largest crowd possible.  
  
I felt Zack prepare to move before he actually did. His arm around me tensed even though his expression didn't change from the friendly affable one he had painted on. He then laughed and swung me around so that we were off of the main sidewalk and my back was now against the side of a building. Zack's face was close to mine so that an outside observer would swear that he was kissing me, but he wasn't. He glanced once at the sidewalk and my eyes followed his.  
  
And then I saw.oh God.I saw.no mistaking.oh my God anyone but that. 


	21. Home

Justin  
  
I felt a hell of a lot better when I woke up late that afternoon. My arm was tolerable and I was feeling much more clear-headed. There was a note from Dad that he was out with Steiner and that he would be back that night. He was probably cleaning up some of the messes that I had made in the last day or so. In any case, it gave me some time alone to call Jhondie and check on her. I was rather shocked when Zack answered the phone, but I was glad he was there to make sure she wasn't getting into any trouble. I told him that I wanted to get Jhondie out of Seattle as soon as possible, and he told me when and where to meet them. It didn't need to be said, but we both knew that she wasn't going to leave until she knew for sure that I was fine.  
  
There was some stuff from Steiner waiting for me in the hotel before I left. He had an advance copy of a press release from BioTech and some information that the police had dug up. Apparently Wendy Riddle was actually Tara Brinks. As in little sister to Robert Brinks, founder and CEO of BioTech. Brinks had issued a statement of apology and denial of the whole affair. Apparently, little sister had been in and out of some mental institutions when she was younger. She must have snapped again, and he often talked to her of things that were going on in the business. She disappeared about a year ago, but that wasn't uncommon for her. In her unfortunate mental state, she must have gone after the people that were upsetting her beloved brother. He never expected such a family tragedy to occur.  
  
I felt for him. I really did. Well, what I felt was nausea at the thought he was being the innocent little lamb that lost his sister in this mess. Of course I had the proof otherwise. I could put him in prison. There was just one little catch. To do so would be to expose Manticore. And that was not something that I could do. It was hard to swallow. I was going to have to let Brinks go in order to protect Jhondie from exposure. All it would take was one person to ask how I knew what Manticore was, and her life as she knew it would be over. I could console myself with knowing that the person that killed my uncle had paid the price, but still, it rankled on me.  
  
I left Dad a note that I was out for a little while and promised to call if anyone decided to start shooting at me this time. I thought it was amusing. Later, Dad didn't appreciate it as much as I did, but then again, I wasn't a parent who almost lost a child. It was still funny despite his statements to the contrary. Then I headed over to where Zack had told me to meet them. The plan was to get Jhondie out of the city. I knew Zack meant that night, but if she stayed until morning and I took her to the airport first thing in the morning, then that was just as good to me. I didn't think Jhondie would complain either considering that she was going to be with me the whole time.  
  
I saw them coming up the sidewalk as casual as could be. I never really thought of myself as the jealous type, but I had to admit that I stood there for a long moment, reminding myself that he was nothing more than a brother to her despite the possessive way that he had his arm around her and was smiling and seemed to be having a good time. Her arm was around his waist and they just looked like the cutest little pair. I was across the street from them, and when he swung her around so that he could, well, it really did look like, he swung her around to kiss her, I headed across the street. She could call him her brother all she wanted. I knew they weren't really related in any way. He obviously was thinking on other lines there.  
  
I got across the street to them and my whole attitude changed. Zack took a step back from Jhondie, his eyes blazing into hers. The smiles and laughter were gone, and her commanding officer was standing there. And Jhondie.something was incredibly wrong with her. I had seen her scared before. I had seen her worried and upset and angry and a whole host of other emotions. I had never once seen her like this. Her face was paper white, green eyes huge, staring back at Zack.  
  
"What's wrong?" I asked, confused at what was going on. If I didn't know better, from the way Jhondie's breathing was jerking, I would have sworn that she was barely holding back a scream.  
  
"Go now," she whispered in a high, strangled whisper. "I have to go now." I wasn't sure, but it seemed like Zack was pleased with whatever he had done to cause this reaction on her.  
  
"Stick with the program and this won't happen again," he growled. "I know where the bases of operation are."  
  
She nodded quickly. "I won't come back," she promised. Without wasting a glance my way, he was suddenly gone. Jhondie damn near collapsed in my arms. She was shaking violently. Whatever had just happened, I knew without a doubt that Zack had set this up, and he knew this would be her reaction.  
  
"Baby, what's wrong?" I asked again. Me getting hurt didn't cause this kind of reaction in her.  
  
"I have to leave the city now," she said, still sounding like she was forcing the words out of a constricted throat. "Tonight. No delays. First flight to anywhere, but I have to go now."  
  
I nodded, trying to reassure her. "Okay. There's a bar close by. We'll go there for a minute and I'll make a couple of calls and get everything set up for you to leave tonight. Okay?" She nodded, but she wasn't relieved. "What did he say to you?"  
  
"He didn't have to say anything," she said softly, her eyes slightly unfocused. I had a feeling she was staring off into old memories that she preferred to remain buried forever. Then she sharpened again, her eyes meeting mine. "He's here. In Seattle. He just walked by and didn't notice us. But it was him, no doubt." I had no idea what she was talking about, and it must have shown. "Lydecker," she whispered. "He's here in Seattle and I have to go now."  
  
When I was little, I was terrified of this clown doll that my mother had. After seeing the movie Poltergeist at age seven (my babysitter was making out with her boyfriend so they didn't notice me watching the movies mom and dad said I couldn't) the clown doll and me were mortal enemies from then on. But I eventually outgrew my personal boogeyman. Jhondie had a little problem with the thing that terrified her the most as a child. He was real. And he was really hunting for her. If it weren't for the fact that Zack had left her, I would have thought that he knew she was here. But he would have gotten her out himself. No. This was just an object lesson in why she better obey him every step of the way. Cold-hearted bastard.  
  
I held her for a few minutes until she calmed down enough that she didn't look like she was about to throw up or pass out. Then we started making our way to the bar that I had seen a little ways back. There seemed to be plenty of people there and we wouldn't be out of the ordinary. Lots of people our age were hanging around there. Jhondie wasn't saying anything. As much as I would have liked her to stay that night, there was no way I was going to let her stay in this city a minute longer than required. As angry as I was about the way he did it, I had to admit that Zack knew how to make a point to both of us. And he certainly made one that day.  
  
Jhondie  
  
I didn't even catch the name of the place we went to. I sat down at the bar and Justin went to the pay phones in the back. Better to use wired than cellular at this point. He was here. He was here and hunting and there was no place he was going to have wired for sound better than a base of operation. No wonder Zack had been so against me coming here with Justin. God help us all. If he had just told me.whom was I kidding, I would have come anyways when I heard the gunshots over the phone. Still, it would have been good to know what I was walking into.  
  
I ordered a beer and sipped at it for a few minutes. Luckily, I wasn't the only person sitting there all by myself. It seemed that the tables were reserved for gangs of friends that wanted to hang out, and the bar was for the ones that wanted to be left alone. And I certainly was in the "go away" group right then. Lydecker. Oh my God. Not ten feet from me. Which begged a single question in my mind. Why didn't I kill him? Follow him a bit. Get him alone. Snap. Bye-bye Lydecker. What kind of power did that man still have over me that the sight of him was abjectly terrifying, making me want to run rather than attack. He would be so disappointed.  
  
I didn't exactly have time to ponder the question. Some idiot decided to ignore the "leave me alone" signals that I was sending out to everyone within a mile radius. He had just come in with a black girl and smiled at me widely as he ordered a pitcher of beer. He ignored the fact that I was studiously ignoring him while I hoped Justin would get done quickly and get me the hell out of here.  
  
"Hi," he said with a grin. "So I haven't seen you around here before. New?"  
  
"Just waiting for my boyfriend," I replied coldly.  
  
He didn't get the hint. "There's room for one more at our table," he said with that salacious leer. "If you don't want to sit here all alone."  
  
The girl he had walked in with had come up behind him and promptly whacked him on the back of the head. "Boy, get your skank white ass back to the table," she commanded in the most imperious ghetto I had ever heard. "The girl ain't interested in your worthless self. Say one word and we can always talk about this with Natalie." He looked hurt, but skittered off immediately at the girl's name.  
  
She sighed and then looked at me apologetically. "Boy's got a fine young thing waiting for him at home and he's still trying to be the player."  
  
"He needs a lot more practice with the lines," I replied dryly.  
  
She smiled, picking up the pitcher of beer the bartender put in front of her. "If you going to be a while, come on over and hang with Original Cindy's crew," she offered, and then sauntered off to a table where another man had come in and sat down with them. I smiled and turned back to my beer.  
  
Oddly enough, that was exactly what I needed to feel better. I had caught the way she looked at me. She was thinking that if I wasn't interested in the guy, maybe it was because I would be more interested in her. Whatever. The point was, she saw me as an attractive regular girl and treated me as such. So had he. As different as I was, there wasn't a way to tell as long as I was careful. I still wanted to get out of the city quickly, but it wasn't that desperate panic I had been filled with a few minutes before.  
  
It didn't take long and Justin returned for me. "Everything's set," he said with a smile. "We'll head on over to the airport and get you out of here ASAP."  
  
I stood up and hugged him. His arm slid around me as we made our exit. I glanced back to where Original Cindy was sitting. I felt a little uncomfortable for a second at the way she was staring at where we were, but then some dark-haired girl came through the door and brushed past us. Cindy broke into a smile and yelled "Hey Boo!" to the girl. I couldn't hold back a smile then.  
  
"You look like you're feeling better," Justin commented. A dark eyebrow rose as he questioned, "What did you do?"  
  
"I didn't do anything," I replied. "I just got hit on by a guy and checked out by a girl."  
  
Justin blinked and I laughed, feeling a thousand times better. "They.neither of them saw anything different in me," I said. It wasn't the right words to explain, but he understood anyways.  
  
"You know, you could probably walk right up to him and ask for directions and he wouldn't know," Justin said. "I'm not suggesting it, and you are leaving the city right now, but you do have a little security blanket there."  
  
I thought about that a lot on the way home. I had always been afraid to be someone. I knew I wanted to be a doctor, but there was a reason I hadn't even started looking at what med school I wanted to go to. There were so many what-ifs involved. But I had a background that could be checked, didn't I? I still had to be careful and that was always going to be there, but constant terror of what could happen didn't need to be there. Lydecker had walked right passed two X-5's and didn't falter a step. There were some things in life I knew I wanted, but had always been afraid to go after. I could have a career. A family of my own. A life. All I had to do was just start living.  
  
I think Justin could tell that there was something different when I left Seattle. I almost felt euphoric in a way. He told me that he was leaving the next night and I promised to pick him up at the airport. Then they were boarding my flight and with a kiss I left him there. My good feelings lasted throughout the layover in San Francisco and all the way until I landed and met my mother at the gate.  
  
She was glaring. Bad sign. Kayla wasn't there. Worse sign. She didn't say anything to me until we got into the car. I was screwed.  
  
"Mom," I started, wanting to explain. Actually, it was more to get something said so I could stop squirming in my seat.  
  
"I am not speaking to you at the moment," she snapped coldly. Half a breath passed. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING OUT THERE!"  
  
"I had." Did I think I was going to be able to explain anything to her? Silly me.  
  
"Young lady, you know damn well why you shouldn't have went running off like that! TO SEATTLE OF ALL PLACES! My God, what if someone had seen that thing on your neck? Did you stop to THINK for a second?"  
  
"Actually, it was all well thought out," I said calmly. That made her sputter for a second. "I knew what I had to and I carried out the plan."  
  
"You lied to me," she snarled. "Tom came over and told me what was going on and all I could think was that there was no way that my daughter would have lied to me like that and put herself in danger. Especially since she knew that there are police there whose job is to protect people. Especially considering how much danger she would be in for other reasons. You know that I don't like bringing up your background, but you of all people should know why you have to be more careful than others."  
  
"Mom," I snapped back, wanting to give her a serious dose of reality, "if someone was trying to kill you, whom would you rather have with you? A doughnut disposal unit or a genetically engineered super-soldier that was trained for this? Face it Mom, I *am* the most advanced weapons system that has ever been created, and that's what was needed to even up the odds. I heard gunshots and the phone went dead. I'm not going to let it happen." my words trailed off and I had to fight back tears for a moment. "I couldn't save Eva. I couldn't save Dad. I'll be dammed if anything is going to happen to Justin."  
  
Mom swallowed hard. "Who killed that woman?" she asked carefully. "For some reason, I don't see Justin doing it." Her and Mr. Carter must have talked for a while. When we were at the airport, Justin told me that his father had sworn that he wasn't going to tell my mother about Eye's Only, but I still was a little worried about what she knew. What the hell. I should go with a little honesty here.  
  
"Zack," I replied. She jumped and I thought for a second we were about to go into the other lane of traffic. "He was there and when she turned the gun on Justin.I.there's signals that we learned as kids and."  
  
"You told him to shoot her and he did," Mom finished. I nodded. She took a deep breath. "That's not something I ever expected from you."  
  
"That's what we were trained to do, you know," I replied. That sounded so bad. I hurried to try and clarify what I meant. "Knowing how to kill people, practicing those techniques, I mean, that is the summary of the first decade of my life, and I haven't forgotten a single thing that I learned there. But now, if I choose to use that training, it won't be for destruction and it won't be because I am blindly following orders, so please don't think I flipped out and went psycho on that chick. She probably would have lived if she didn't draw down on Justin." Actually, she knew about Manticore and me. Chances are I would have had to kill her to keep her quiet, but that was a lot I didn't want to explain to Mom. I wasn't going to kill her in a moment of rash anger and that was the difference. If I had to, it was going to be because there were no alternatives. Or her name was Denise. But that was a given.  
  
"I'm sorry I worried you," I said in a small voice. "I was just in such a panic to get out there that I was saying anything to keep from having someone try and slow me down. I had to get out there."  
  
"And how exactly did you manage to get to Seattle?" That was so not a question I wanted to answer.  
  
"Broke into airline security," I replied. Inspiration. "They're connected to the sector police there. That way they know if the people on the flight are authorized." That wasn't a lie actually. "So if you get into one, it's not hard to get into the other. I hacked a reservation and the paperwork was taken care of."  
  
Mom blinked. It was rare to get her speechless. Wasn't worth it, but still a rare event. "And when did you learn to do that?" she gasped, the shock evident.  
  
I thought for a moment. "I got into advanced hacking when I was about seven. Maybe eight. Everyone else was still doing light security breaking and entering, but I seemed to have a gift for it. Such things were rather encouraged back then. Now can we please drop the Manticore thing because I really don't want to talk about what I did and what I learned from them?"  
  
I was very glad that she let the subject drop. It was far from her favorite one as well, and we both agreed that there were some things not worth mentioning. I couldn't afford to pretend it didn't happen, but I didn't need it in my face either. Mom was still not over being mad, but she was a lot calmer by the time we got home. Mom didn't get over being that pissed very easily no matter how much rational was behind the actions. It would take a few days.  
  
"Your sister doesn't know what happened," she said curtly when we pulled up to the house. "I think it would be best to keep it that way." Chances were she hadn't noticed that I was gone, but I didn't say that to Mom. She was touchy enough as it was.  
  
Kay was, shockingly enough, on the phone when I went in. I actually got a wave from her before she went back to trashing Lacey McGrath and that "Little House on the Prairie" outfit she wore to school. I smiled. Nice to see that some things didn't change. I went to my room, and crawled out the window.  
  
Cody meowed and crawled into my lap, purring loudly as I petted him. Nice to see that someone still loved me. Actually I had a lot of people that loved me despite being away or annoyed at the moment with me. There was only one other that I wanted in my lap besides Cody, but still, this was a good place to be. A good place. I could sleep. Didn't go hungry. My hair wouldn't hold a curl without half a can of hairspray in it, but at least I had it. The only nomilies were the creatures that Kayla brought home and referred to as her friends. I could deal with that. I bit my lip slightly, not able to hold back a few tears. I didn't need Zack to tell me about the Good Place. I was there. 


	22. Power Position

Justin  
  
I was ready for the meeting with MedGen in the morning. It was the first time that I had seen Winters and Daily since the reading of the will and I was in a mood to get this done and over with once and for all. I had been thinking a lot that night about everything and a few things had really made an impact on me. But I was in a position to make things different. It wasn't going to stop it all, but each piece counted in a way. And I was in the power position, so screw them all.  
  
I walked in the room like a triumphant general, Steiner trailing behind me. I didn't bother to sit down. Instead I pointed to Winters and Daily. "You, me, no lawyers, ten minutes and this will all be over," I said firmly and then got myself a cup of coffee. There was a small room to the side of the conference room and I walked right into that, ignoring the fact that Steiner was having a stroke by the door. I had a feeling I was going to need a new lawyer after this. His heart wasn't going to be able to make it much longer at the rate I was going.  
  
I plopped down in a chair and leaned back. I knew they weren't going to run in there. They wanted me to sweat. But curiosity was going to get the better of them and I could be patient. I was in the power position, and I had to admit that it felt good. Three minutes later, Winters and Daily came in. Both of them elected to stand, glaring at me suspiciously as I sipped some rather good coffee.  
  
"I'm going back to LA tonight and I want this cleared up before I leave," I said rather arrogantly. "Please forgive me for wasting your lawyers' time but all they do is slow down the process. And once BioTech regroups, you're not going to have time to waste."  
  
Neither of them said a word, but I knew they were very uncomfortable with me knowing how vulnerable they were. I smiled. "So what if I just sell you the patents and get it done and over with?"  
  
Daily regained his ability to speak first. "Blackmail, Mr. Carter? Is that what this is? You know that we are in some difficulty so you think you can demand some outrageous price?"  
  
Winters seemed to be much more rational than his partner. "Even though we still stand by the fact that the patents belong to MedGen, for hypothetical purposes, what would you want for them?" Cool lawyer-speak there. He knew that giving me the money they would spend on lawyers was the better option. It would save them the time they so desperately needed.  
  
I shrugged. "How much you two got on you right now?"  
  
Winters blinked. "Is this some kind of joke?"  
  
I sat up in my chair. "After the last forty-eight hours, I am not in a joking mood." Both of them must have known the gist of what had gone on because they exchanged nervous glances. "I had time to talk with Winston before he was killed and he told me some more about the project him and my uncle were working on. Quite simply, that line of research sickens me." It did, but not for reasons they could suspect.  
  
I stood. "So, here's the deal. You empty your pockets and that's what the selling price of the patents is monetarily. The real price is that your line of transgenic human-animal crossbreeding research gets killed ASAP. It's immoral and sick and if I can keep one company from doing it, then I've got a good start there."  
  
"You can't tell us what to research," Daily snapped. "Free market enterprise, Mr. Carter."  
  
"I can tell you what to research," I replied with enough arrogance to sicken even myself. "Because if I tell you to kiss my ass and then I walk out of here, you're going to be clearing out your desk pretty soon while the BioTech logos are being put up around the building. You don't have a choice in the matter anymore." I stopped talking then and just smirked. I normally despised people that acted like I was at the moment, but after everything I had been through, it was actually feeling kind of good to be the one in control of the situation.  
  
"We need a moment to discuss this if you don't mind," Winters said  
  
"Of course," I replied, holding up my coffee cup. "I need a refill anyway. Good stuff, by the way." I almost laughed at the look of disgust that broke the carefully controlled expressions just for a second. They were fighting for their company, and the way I was acting, the coffee was the most important thing.  
  
It was funny as hell to walk out of there and have four pairs of eyes staring at me. I didn't say anything as I refilled my cup and then leaned against the wall, waiting for them. Steiner was sitting casually in his seat, cool as can be. He had no idea what I had been planning on pulling but he wasn't going to let the other lawyers know that he was still in the dark as much as they were. Several minutes ticked by and then Daily beckoned me back in there. I threw away the paper cup and headed back in.  
  
"We have a product line that is about six months from going to market," Daily said when I got back in there. "The blood screener is what we need to keep everything afloat until we get that to market and we believe that it will become the dominant product line."  
  
I shrugged, understanding what he was saying. They were going to cave for now, but I hadn't won. They were going to become solvent again and then do whatever the hell they wanted. "You breach the contract, and the lawyers are going to drain you dry when I sue you. And then we're back to where we started. I have a feeling that BioTech is rather persistent. They're never going to leave you alone and you both know it."  
  
What they didn't know was that dropping the transgenic line was the only way to protect their company from takeover. I could have been wrong though. There was something in Winters' face that said he knew more than what he was saying in front of Daily. Interesting. "I will insist," Winters said, "that all of these proceedings are going to be sealed. I'm sure you can understand why."  
  
"I have no objections to that," I replied amicably. "Then we have a deal?" I held out my hand.  
  
Winters took it and we shook. "I have no idea if you are a genius or a lunatic," he remarked casually.  
  
I couldn't help a smile at that. "You might be surprised at how often I wonder that myself."  
  
And so it came to pass that the patents that had been fought and schemed over were transferred to MedGen for one hundred eighty-six dollars fifty- two cents and a card good for a free appetizer or dessert at a local restaurant. I figured that looked like a good place for lunch. Especially since Steiner nearly gave birth to a kitten when the three of us walked out, and true to their word, they pooled their money and handed it over. Then I told Steiner to draw up whatever papers were needed, which was basically the point where the near birthing occurred. I told him to send me anything that I needed to sign and left to get Dad and grab an early lunch.  
  
Dad knew what I had planned on doing. He thought the transgenic thing had something to do with Eye's Only and I wasn't going to disabuse him on that notion. We had come to an agreement that he wouldn't try and interrogate me on what I was doing, but that I would keep him a little better apprised on what was going on. He would know then when to worry and when not to. I could deal with that. But we both agreed that the twins were not to know, and I managed to talk him into not telling Jhondie's mother. It was up to her to let her mother know when she felt the time was right and Dad didn't have the right to interfere in that. He just wondered in what way she was going to kill him when she did find out. I grinned and told him that we would put him under protective custody.  
  
I was glad to be going home that evening. I was tired and ready to go home, start looking for a place of my own, get ready for the upcoming semester and spend as much time with Jhondie as humanly possible. Sounded like a plan to me. Especially getting my own place. Dad and I hadn't talked about it, but he knew that I had already been thinking about trying to get out on my own. Now that was going to be quite easy to do. And I would feel better knowing that it would be more difficult for sensitive information to end up in the hands of my brother and sister. As intelligent as they were, they were still too young for common sense to have sunk in deeply enough to let them know when they should leave things alone. Come to think of it, it hadn't yet for me either.  
  
I was packing up my stuff, getting ready for my flight back when every hair on my neck stood up and I knew that I wasn't alone. "She called me last night from LA," I said, not bothering to turn around as I put my toothbrush and razor in my bag. "Everything's fine, no problems getting out or getting there."  
  
If Zack was surprised that I knew he was there or who it was, he didn't show it. I knew it had to be him. There were only two people that I knew that could come into a room with absolute silence and the other one was in Los Angeles. However, she was also the one that would keep this one from killing me if he decided right then that I was too much of a risk to his sister. I was on thin ice and I knew it. But then again, he had saved my life. That's what I was wondering about as I turned to face him.  
  
For a long moment, neither of us said anything. Puzzle pieces started to come together in my mind and things began to make sense. Why had he kept me from being shot? To him, that would lessen the danger to Jhondie. One less person would know about Manticore and there would be one less tie to LA for Jhondie. So why then? And then I remembered that person high on the building. Was it that he didn't want his sister to go ballistic and go after those guys in a city where Lydecker was hanging around, or was it that a gunshot might attract attention from someone else? I remembered Zack when Jhondie innocently asked me if I wanted her to go to Seattle with me. And Lydecker was in the city. Maybe this was a base of operations. Or maybe it was a hunting ground.  
  
"Everything's fine this time," Zack finally said. "Next time she goes off because someone she's attached to might be in trouble, it could be different. Every tie slows her down. Makes her vulnerable. She would have come after you even knowing Lydecker was here."  
  
I nodded slowly. "Probably. And if she thought someone else that she cared for was in trouble here, she'd be back in a heartbeat. That's the way she is. It's just a slightly warmer version of you." I wanted to see his reaction to confirm my suspicions. He didn't even blink. I would hate playing poker with this guy. "Of course," I continued, "that's why you keep them all separated. She'd kill me if she heard me say it, but I'm glad you do. If she thought someone was here in Seattle and Lydecker was closing in on him or her, she'd be back here ready to do battle no matter how scared of him she is."  
  
That got a slight change in his expression. I don't think he even suspected that there would ever be anything that we could agree on, but I did agree with his separation policy. Jhondie wanted to see her missing siblings terribly, but it was too dangerous. They were much more likely to break the surface of Lydecker's radar in a pack then they were individually. Maybe it was pure selfishness, but I didn't want her in a position where she was with the others and as a group they decided to leave. With more than one of them asking, she probably would just to be able to take care of them. I loved her for how she put others above herself, but I didn't want to lose her for that as well.  
  
"LA's safe for her right now," Zack said. "But that will change eventually. You going to let her go then?" The question was sarcastic as if he didn't think I was capable of making a sacrifice like that.  
  
"I know that I have some rather deep resources now," I replied. "Enough to make sure she's got a good set up in Mexico." I thought about it for a second. "I think now I could get a dozen people to Mexico or Canada or wherever with no questions asked by anyone.including me." The offer was there, and it was standing for if he ever needed it. If I didn't ask what it was for, I wouldn't be morally obligated to tell Jhondie that I knew where one of her brothers or sisters was.  
  
He gave me a curt nod and turned to the window. Something else hit me, and I called his name, making him pause for a moment, waiting for what I had to say. I picked up a folder from my bag. It was the one we had nabbed from BioTech. I had been thinking long and hard about it. Here was all of the proof that Brinks knew about my uncle's murder and was part of it himself. I could edit out the Manticore stuff and give it to the cops. I could make up a lot and get out of explaining how we broke in. Hell, it would have come anonymously for all they knew. I could have justice. Or.I could give Jhondie a gift that she would never know about.  
  
"The people that tried to kill me," I explained, "we found out that they were trying to build their own transgenics. They were trying to get information from Manticore so that they could make it work." I held out the folder. "If by any chance Lydecker should make it to a city where an X- 5 was and get way too close to him or her, then I'm willing to bet that you could get this to him. He'd probably have to lay off the search for a little while and get all of the holes in his security plugged up and make sure that this guy wouldn't be able to succeed. I doubt Manticore wants their monopoly broken, so this would have to take top priority over a ten- year-old search. And if that gave the hypothetical X-5 time to escape, then that's just the breaks."  
  
I would have sworn there was a flash of gratitude on his face and I knew that I was right. Someone was in a bad situation and needed help. Maybe they wouldn't take it and Zack was having more problems then he would care to admit. But he took the folder and then was just gone. I let out a breath that I didn't realize that I had been holding. Two solo meetings with Zack and I was still alive. I wondered how many other non-X-5's that knew about them could make that same claim.  
  
And I was serious about Jhondie and Mexico if it ever came down to it. I needed to talk to her when I got home. There might come a time when she had to run. And that was okay. I would encourage her to run just as far and fast as she could go. I wanted her to be safe more than anything. And she wouldn't have to worry because eventually she would slow down, and when she did, it would just give me a chance to catch up to her. Life was crazy and I knew that. Anything was possible. As long as we stayed strong and stuck together, I had no doubt that anything could be accomplished if we put our minds to it. I wanted to be with her forever. There was no doubt to that. Life could change in an instant with just a few decisions. I would do what I could to protect her and our life in LA. But if it came to it, yeah, I'd leave with her.  
  
Dad knocked and then came into my room. I was just finishing packing. "Ready to go?"  
  
I smiled. "You have no idea." He smiled back and in a matter of less than three hours I was watching Seattle disappear far below me as we headed south towards LA and my life. 


	23. Epilogue

Jhondie  
  
"It's too big" I protested.  
  
"No it's not!" Justin immediately replied.  
  
"I'm telling you, it's going to get all ripped up back there!"  
  
"Maybe if you'd move to the left a little! Or lift up some. Try that."  
  
I tried and groaned in despair. "It's not going to fit!" I reiterated. "And don't give me that look! It was Newton that decided that two objects cannot be in the same place at the same time. If it's too big to squeeze in there, then it's too big."  
  
Justin let out a growl. "It's halfway there. The rest should fit. I swear I'm about to bring out some kind of lubricant."  
  
I wrinkled my nose. "That wouldn't ever come out of the fabric. And people are going to start wondering what we are doing in the hall in a minute."  
  
That got a laugh out of Justin. He had no reason to say anything. He was the one that was supposed to measure the couch and see if it would fit in the door of his new apartment. I was the one that was going to help him get it in there. I was doing my part. It wasn't hard to see where the failure had occurred.  
  
There was a bend in the couch and that was the problem. The curve made it a little wider and the couch just was not going to fit. I would have been laughing at him, but the problem was that he got the couch that I liked the best and not the one he was leaning towards, so it was almost my fault. We had been having so much fun shopping in the last two weeks to get everything he needed for his new place. And by fun, I mean him standing looking around looking bored as hell while I spent lots of his money. He didn't mind though really. He wanted me to get things that I liked too. The reasoning was that I was going to be over there all of the time so I should like what I was going to see.  
  
What neither of us was saying was that I should be getting stuff since it was my place too. I wanted it to be. I knew that Justin wanted me to move in with him, but I just couldn't. Kayla had decided that being grounded was no reason to not go out with some.well, I would call it a mutant, but that's giving mutants a bad name and tried to sneak out. If it wasn't for the mutant she was living with that doesn't sleep and can hear her window opening at one in the morning, then she would have gotten out. Things were getting bad and I didn't want to leave Mom without a live-in ally. But I did want to move in with Justin. At least I would be able to spend the night sometimes. That was such a sweet thought. I couldn't wait to be able to go to bed with him and know that we weren't on a time limit for when a parent or sibling was going to come home. I wanted to be there when he woke up and be able to have a quiet dinner together between crises. I would give the situation at home some time to get better and then I was so going to be sending out change of address cards. He and I belonged together and there wasn't a soul that could deny that at this point.  
  
It took another twenty minutes of pushing and pulling and at least one good round of cursing but we finally got the stupid couch in the living room. With no small amount of conceit, I can say that my choice was stunning in there. There was still some unpacking to do and the second bedroom to convert into a computer/work room, but the place was coming together nicely. The bedroom was set up (and yes, the new king-sized bed had been broken in properly) and the kitchen and now with the couch, the living room was officially usable. I looked over at the dining room table and had to hold back a laugh. For some reason, I was getting the urge for a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich.  
  
We fell onto the couch, too tired to even think about christening it to the new place. Justin had started looking for an apartment right after he got back from Seattle and stumbled onto this one. It wasn't as huge as some of the places that he had looked at, but it was a good location and had a great view of the city. There was one that Justin had thought about getting rather then this, but that was just because the irony was too funny. It was Brent Lake's place, the first real crime boss that we had exposed and whom ended up slightly dead because of it. Justin thought about it, but decided that it was a bit much to try and keep from snickering every time he walked through his front door. This apartment had two bedrooms and bathrooms, a nice kitchen and dining room and a rather large living room. And there was a large balcony that seemed to beg for a comfy chair that we could cuddle up in and watch the sun set over the city. Maybe romance isn't the best deciding factor in an apartment, but it worked for us. I certainly couldn't wait for that first night with me and him and a bottle of champagne with the sunset.  
  
"So," I teased, "when is the investment broker going to start calling you and freaking out over all of this?" He was really starting to get irritated at these people calling him all the time and basically trying to let him know that they were in charge of the money and he should be glad they were doling it out to him. Justin was looking at it as a tool that can be used to help him in his goals, not something that should be sitting in a bank account somewhere and moldering.  
  
He grinned. "Most of them are getting fired Monday."  
  
My jaw dropped. "Going to hide it all under the mattress?"  
  
Justin laughed. "I wouldn't want it to get stained," he teased. I blushed. "Actually," he continued, "remember Armani?"  
  
I rolled my eyes. "He's rather hard to forget. At least he learned to stop grabbing my butt." It cost him two broken fingers and a cracked shin, but he finally got the message.  
  
"Well," Justin explained, "the guy is actually a financial genius. Last week I had to get some information from him and he mentioned this thing that was going to happen. All the people I had said that this other stuff was going down and I was absolutely crazy for trying it but I took the risk and ended up making almost fifty grand off of it."  
  
I blinked. "You do realize that the guy is only marginally sane don't you?"  
  
"That's the beauty of it!" he replied. "See, he just wants someone to tell him how brilliant he is and how much they couldn't live without him. It makes him feel better. He also took a lower commission rate."  
  
I sighed. "We are going to be hard pressed to find an informant to fill his shoes."  
  
Justin shrugged. "Saving the world one person at a time, remember?"  
  
I leaned up and kissed him. "Could you possibly get any more perfect?" I asked.  
  
He smiled softly. "I'll remind you of that next time I fold the towels 'incorrectly'."  
  
I playfully punched him. "I meant here," I said, lightly touching his chest over his heart. "There are so few people in the world with truly good hearts. I'm lucky to have one of them with me."  
  
"I know the feeling," he replied, fingers caressing my face. Whoever was interrupting this moment by knocking on the door was going to be in a world of hurt.  
  
Except for the fact that it was Justin's father so beating him senseless and tossing him off of the balcony would not be the nicest thing I could do. So maybe it was a good thing that we weren't in the process of removing clothing when he knocked twice and then came in. I liked Mr. Carter and all and I knew that he knew we were intimately involved but I was not going to put it on display. I just made a mental note to have a chain put on the front door just in case for later.  
  
"I brought the rest of your stuff from the house," he said brightly. There were a few boxes up in the attic that were old mementos and the like that were Justin's and Mr. Carter was looking forward to freeing up some space up there. There was something about reclaiming the attic or basement space that really made parents rather blissful. I wasn't sure what it was. Must happen when you have a kid. Still very weird though.  
  
He held out a package delivery envelope. "And Steiner overnighted this to you."  
  
Justin took it, looking obviously confused. "There can't possibly another piece of paperwork he wants me to sign," he muttered, opening it. He pulled out a videotape and a note. He opened the note and read it aloud. "I've been debating on if I should send this to you or not, but all things considering, I think you should see it. I'm sure that you've heard about what your associate here is doing and I believe that this is related."  
  
This was very odd. Actually, we hadn't heard from the boss since we got back to LA. Justin had found some stuff pertaining to a case we were working on and all we got back was a curt message that seemed automated. It just said that EO was unavailable and would contact us when he was back. We had been told before that he was busy and wouldn't be able to get back to us for a few days. But it was always personal.obviously written by him. This time.it was like the whole Informant Net was on hold for some reason.  
  
Justin put the tape in the VCR and we both watch what appeared to be a newscast. Part of it was footage shot by one of Seattle's oh-so-lovely hover drones. Two guys in a car were ambushed and got shot and a kid got nabbed. That was pretty sensational even for Seattle, but it wasn't explaining why Justin paled as the drone did a close up on the man lying in the street. The newscast then went on to say that the unidentified survivor of the incident was taken to the hospital, but in an odd twist of fate, there was a gas leak and several rooms, including his were destroyed when it ignited. There was no word yet on if he was still in the room as a witness did say that she believed she saw him being removed moments before the explosion. And then it went on to weather.  
  
Justin rewound the tape and paused it on the close up. "Do you know him?" I asked when he didn't say anything. His Dad was looking at him as well, concern etched on his face.  
  
Justin's eyes didn't leave the screen. "That's the informant that gave me the CD about BioTech," he finally said. I blinked and looked back at the figure lying on the pavement. He was just a regular guy. Cute for an older guy, but regular nonetheless. It's easy to forget how dangerous this line of work is when you don't have a partner like me with you.  
  
"He's like you?" Mr. Carter asked unsteadily. "Part of the Informant Net?" Justin nodded, watching the footage again in slow motion.  
  
"But we're a lot different," I said quickly. We were because I would never have gotten caught in that trap. I was trained to spot an ambush and even if they got lucky, the informant's partner was shot immediately and appeared to have been killed. That would not have happened with me and with only three men on the hit squad; they would have been toast against me alone. With Justin to back me, I wouldn't have broken a sweat.  
  
I had Mr. Carter's attention. "We just get stuff for him," I explained. "We don't transport it or get stuff from him to give to other people. We're kind of at the top of the food chain here in LA. We only give things directly to the boss." I thought about that for a second. Injured informant and suddenly Eye's Only was unavailable.  
  
"Justin," I said, getting his attention from the TV for a moment. "You don't think that's *him* do you?  
  
He thought about it and then shook his head. "I doubt that he would risk being with me of all people because of the possibility of me recognizing him when he gave me that CD. But I think he's unavailable because that guy does know who he is and if the bad guys got him, he could give away that identity. How much you want to bet that Eye's Only was the one that took him from the hospital? Probably has him stashed somewhere so that he can recuperate."  
  
That sounded plausible enough. "Do you think this has anything to do with the CEO of BioTech?" Mr. Carter asked. For someone that was new to the world of conspiracies and cloak and dagger, he was picking up on making connections rather well. Justin must have gotten it from his side.  
  
"All we've heard was that it was a heart attack," I replied. "Besides, Eye's Only isn't in the business of getting revenge for his informants. He just makes sure the whole truth comes out." We had heard that Brinks had been found dead in a hotel room above this little jazz club from an apparent heart attack. The tabloid report said that he had been up there with a singer from the club and the girl said that he had grabbed his chest and then collapsed when she was giving him a "private performance". Whatever else there was to the story, nobody would ever know. I was just glad to hear that he had gotten what he deserved.  
  
I looked back at the TV. "This won't happen to us," I said firmly. Justin took my hand.  
  
Mr. Carter shook his head slowly. "He probably said that more than once as well."  
  
"There's a difference," I replied softly. "You can't kill what you can't catch."  
  
Maybe I said that too intensely. Mr. Carter certainly couldn't respond to it. But it was the truth. I was living proof of it. Mr. Carter said something about wanting to get the stuff from the car and headed out downstairs. I think he needed a minute alone to try and come to grips with the fact that his son was in a dangerous line of work but he wasn't going to get out of it. This was still hard on him to accept. I didn't think that he would ever really accept it, even when Justin started publishing under his own name. Justin didn't back down from a challenge. That was something his father had instilled in him and maybe now Mr. Carter was starting to regret that.  
  
I squeezed Justin's hand when his dad left. "This won't happen to us," I repeated.  
  
He looked at me. "It's not me I'm worried about. You never asked to get involved with this. If anything, I blackmailed you into it. I can't keep asking you to risk yourself like this."  
  
I smiled. "That's why I do it. Because you don't ask me to. I'm in this because I want to be. I know I can't go on forever, but I'll know when that point comes. But for now, you and I are partners in this no matter what. So don't even think you're getting rid of me."  
  
He looked so sad for a moment. "This isn't your fight. You never wanted to be part of it. It was wrong of me to make you get involved."  
  
I took his face in my hands, our eyes locking. "I'm only going to say this once," I said intensely. I knew what I wanted to say and I didn't think I could get it out more than once without breaking down. "When this all started I was just a selfish kid whose top priority was me. You have made me confront a lot of my own personal demons along the way and the one thing I know for sure is that there are a lot of things that I've done in this life that I need to make up for. This helps in some way. I'm in it because I want to be. And all this tape does is strengthen my resolve. I won't tell Eye's Only what I really am. He'll never know about Manticore and what they did. But the evil that they did is going to end up helping make the world better through me. So maybe I'm still being selfish, but *I* need to know that. The darkness they put into me can be changed into something good. If it wasn't for this, I don't know if I would have ever known that for sure. I would have always been afraid to really trust myself because I didn't know if I would revert to that darkness."  
  
I sniffed, trying not to start crying. "What you blackmailed me into was learning that I can really live and be happy. So don't you dare try to walk away from anything. Because trust me, there is no place on this planet you can hide from me."  
  
Justin didn't say anything, just pulled me into his arms and we held each other tightly. We were so much more than the sum of our parts when we were together. If my life had to end, then as long as we were together for a space of time, how could I complain? I had something that some people would spend a lifetime searching for. Too much of a risk being this close to someone, Zack would say, but what incredible thing in life came with a guarantee? I would rather take the risk and reap the rewards than to do something that would really be just pretending to live.  
  
Justin caressed my cheek. "How did I manage to get through the first twenty years of my life without you?" he asked softly.  
  
"We were always in each other's hearts," I replied. "We just followed out hearts back to each other."  
  
He leaned down and kissed me then, every bit of the love he had for me making the moment stand still in time. Loving someone meant letting them have control over a part of your life. I wasn't scared of that anymore. I wasn't afraid of how much he could hurt me. We were young. In love. Together in all things. And so the path we were on was a dangerous one. I could handle that. As long as we were willing to stand together, there was nothing that could separate us. And that was all the guarantee I needed.  
  
THE END 


End file.
